Poem- "Ballad of Birmingham" bu Dudley Randall

[Ms. Knarr]

Ballad of Birmingham By Dudley Randall 1914–2000

(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)



“Mother dear, may I go downtown

Instead of out to play,

And march the streets of Birmingham

In a Freedom March today?”



“No, baby, no, you may not go,

For the dogs are fierce and wild,

And clubs and hoses, guns and jails

Aren’t good for a little child.”



“But, mother, I won’t be alone.

Other children will go with me,

And march the streets of Birmingham

To make our country free.”



“No, baby, no, you may not go,

For I fear those guns will fire.

But you may go to church instead

And sing in the children’s choir.”



She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,

And bathed rose petal sweet,

And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,

And white shoes on her feet.



The mother smiled to know her child

Was in the sacred place,

But that smile was the last smile

To come upon her face.



For when she heard the explosion,

Her eyes grew wet and wild.

She raced through the streets of Birmingham

Calling for her child.



She clawed through bits of glass and brick,

Then lifted out a shoe.

“O, here’s the shoe my baby wore,

But, baby, where are you?”

[hugozazzarini]

1. As evidenced from the beginning before the first line, this poem is about the bombing that took place on a church in Birmingham in 1963. Even without that little bit of information, one can easily see that this poem took place during segregation and took place during a time when blacks had dogs and hoses set up on them, were attacked by white police, and were thrown into prison. Therefore the child's mother in the poem fears for her son's life and instead suggests that her child goes to church. Ironically, the one place she thought her child would be safest, turned out to the place in which she was killed.
2. Overall, I somewhat liked this poem but at the same time I mostly see it as educational, informing whoever reads this poem about some of the hostility and violence towards blacks during the 1950s and 1960s. However, the one part I will say that I did like was the child's innocent nature and how she wanted so greatly for America to free and equal between all races. I also feel this poem gives one a feeling of reassurance, in the sense that one should always be on their guard and that even the safest of places can still hold the same or greater dangers as others.
3.
1. Do you think the child would have suffered a similar fate had she attended the Freedom March?
2. Why do you think Randall wrote this poem?
3. While the child seems young, do you believe that she is matured beyond her eyes?
4. What do you think will happen to the mother after the death of her child?

[chrismarrie]

1. I completely agree with Hugo's interpretation of the poem. Like he said, at the beginning the author gives a quick statement of the bombing that took place in a church in Birmingham. This young girl's mother feared her daughter walking through the streets, aware that the racism brought danger to anyone in the town. It is clear that the mother and daughter are African American, since the mother seems to live in a world of fear for what might happen if her kid goes to protest. In the end, it did not matter that she went to a "sacred place," since there turned out to be just as much danger at church. Unfortunately, the poem infers that the daughter dies in the bombing that takes place.

2. Overall, I liked that the poem sent a somewhat good message. The story line was not happy at all, but it taught a lesson. Since many people worry so much about the dangers in everything nowadays, it shows that you just have to live your life since you never know what will happen. Even though this mom would not let her daughter go anywhere but where she thought was safest, it still lead to tragedy. Also, this poem really gives you a sense for what it was like back then in the south, and the kind of violence blacks actually had to endure and fear.

3. (Question 3) Yes, I think this young girl is very mature. She realized that if she feared the world as her mother did, she would just be doing what people wanted the blacks to do and they would be winning. Instead, she knew they had to take a stand if they wanted anything to be different.
(My question) Do you think the majority of the blacks down south lived in this type of fear?

[mattteryek]

1. I agree with both Hugo and Cris. This poem is clearly about a mother who tried to protect her child but in the end could not. In the beginning of the poem, the mother feared her child would be safest in the Burmingham church, away from the guns, dogs, water hoses, and violent riots. However, the safest place in town turned out to be the mothers worst nightmare. The bombing of the Burmingham church ironically killed her child.

2. I liked the poem because it sends a positive message of; just live your life. The mother was so worried that her child would be harmed by the guns or water hoses, but in fact was killed in what she thought was the safest place in town. In a way, this poem can apply to our current times. We should not be confined to certain places in the fear that something horrific may happen. Instead we need to just live our life and trust in God.

3. (Answer to Cris's question) I feel a majority of blacks in the south lived in this type of fear. For most blacks, violence, guns, dogs, and water hoses were an everyday sight. I would not be able to imagine a person not afraid given the circumstances.

My Question: Do you think there is a possibility that the guns, dogs, and violence will make there way back to our current streets?

[connorjmckeon]

1. I completely agree with Hugo, Matt, and Chris. This poem tells the story of a mother trying to protect her daughter, but, in turn, lead her to violence without knowing. It is ironic because in a choice between two places, the one that is generally thought to be safer ended up being the more dangerous. Most mother's in that time would make the same decision as the one in the poem and send their daughter to the church, a place of God, instead of the riot for equality, a place of violence and cruelty. But on this particular day, it would have been safer among the dogs, hoses, and guns.

2. I dislike the poem because of the mention of this horrific bombing. Some of the events that went on during the Civil Rights Movement were very unfortunate, like this one, and reading about them saddens readers. Nevertheless, I do like the message it conveys; you really don't know what's going to happen today or tomorrow. But you should, like Matt said, just live your life and let the things you can't control play themselves out. Worrying about them won't change them, but it will bother you.

3. Answer to Hugo's first question: I'd like to think that she wouldn't have suffered a similar fate. I'm not saying this to be cliche, but I think if she went, the girl would have walked along and not stirred up much trouble. She is fairly young and probably just wanted to be part of something. I don't think this girl had it in her to fight power. With that said, I don't think she would've been attacked like she was in the church.
My question: Do you think the title means this conversation took place more than once that day?

[timhoffman]

1. Randall's poem shows that we are in the most danger when we believe that we are safe. Even when the child donned her *white* clothes, she was not safe from the horrors of the world. But who would think that the church wouldn't be a safe place? It is Randall's way of telling the people reading this poem that not everything is as it first appears.

2. While this poem was very sad, it demonstrated the potential of the author and the great possibility of their works.

[jthimelrick]

1. Obviously this poem is about the bombing of a church in Birmingham, but it stands for so much more. During this time many people tried to escape the violence by not becoming involved. But this poem shows that no matter how hard you try, you always become intertwined in the problems of society. So therefore you cannot just run away from them problems, for they will find you, but instead you should attack them head on, and try to fix societies problems.
2. This is a very sad poem because it tells the story of a young boy dying while he was doing nothing wrong. He simply wanted to help change society for the better but instead, while he was at church, he was killed for absolutely nothing. Although it is sad, i think this poem also tells a much needed story, it shows how wrong it is to hurt someone because of their race, and how it needs to stop.
3. ( answering Conner's question) Yes, i think the conversation is meant to show that this wasn't just a one time thing, this happened for many mothers and sons and families.

my question- Do you think the church was bombed because of religion or race?

[dannyreilly]

This poem describes how a particular woman experienced a church bombing. She sent her kid to that church to sing in the choir even though the child wanted to go to march in a freedom march. It is ironic because the mother said no to the freedom march because she felt it was too dangerous but the baby actually died in the church.

I didn't like the poem mainly because of how sad it is. Especially in the last stanza when she finds her child's shoe. while the poem describes an event in history I feel it could have been done ina more cheerful manner.

(To JT) I do. I'm sure with the freedom march going on, there was a lot of chaos and a million different beliefs were going around.
(My question) When the boy says that other children will be with him, why was there no adults around? Was it just a child's freedom march?

[bradoconnor]

I completely agree with Hugo's interpretation of "Ballad of Birmingham". This poem is obviously about how the the mother does not allow her child to march down the streets in Birmingham because she is scared for his life. Therefore, she directs him to a place that she thinks is much safer, but ironically ends up exploding and taking her childs life. This poem shows the cruelty of segregation during the time that this poem was written. Many times, segregation is taking to such extremes that it even ends up taking numerous lives.

This poem was very intriguing. While I was reading, I thought that the child would disobey the mother and go out to the streets where he would eventually get killed. To my surprise though the child obeyed his mother but was brutally killed anyway. I thought that that was an ironic twist that kept me entertained throughout.

Answering Jt's question, Since this poem was written during the black arts movement, I believe that the church was bombed due to race.

My Question: What is the significance of the way the mother dressed in lines 17-20

[alexmaravic]

1. I agree with pretty much everyone's interpretation of the poem, considering it's pretty straight forward. The mother feared for the safety of her child and didn't want him running around the streets of Birmingham. She rather he go to a place that she considered safe like Church. I think this shows how people valued religion and relied on God to protect them from the dangers in society. I agree with Brad's statement that it shows the severity of racism at that time due to the bombing and violence.

2. I liked the poem although it was sad. It was an accurate depiction of what parents must have went through during the bombing. It makes angry at the way African Americans were treated especially to the extent that they were being massacred for their race and ethnicity. I also agree with Brad that it was ironic, because the child was killed anyway even though he was supposed to be in a safe place.

3. Answer to Brad's question: I think that the author made an effort to state that the mother's gloves and shoes were white because white symbolizes purity. Showing the purity of the mother shows that she's innocent and has done wrong while it seems as if the white people are punishing African American's for no reason.

Question:
What do you think prompted the author to write this poem?