Written by: Dudley Randall

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Ballad of Birmingham

• Written by Dudley Randall
• Presentation By Beth Beth

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Dudley Randall

• born January 14, 1914 Washington D.C. died
  August 5, 2000
• African American writer
• life-long interest in poetry
• started the Broadside Press
• dedicated to publishing the work of emerging
  black authors

Photo courtesy of www.english.uiuc.edu/.../
m_r/randall/randall.htm
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The Ballad of Birmingham 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 Arent good for a little
child. But, mother, I wont 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 a childrens choir.
She was combed and brushed her night-dark
hair, And bathed rose petal sweet, And drawn
white gloves on her small brown hands, And white
shoes upon her feet. The mother smiled to
know her child Was in a sacred place, But the
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 heres the shoe my baby wore, But,
baby, where are you?
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Bombing of Birmingham
On September 15, 1963, a bomb went off in
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham,
Alabama, killing four girls as they prepared for
church.
Addie Mae Collins
Denise McNair
Carole Robertson
Cynthia Wesley
Pictures courtesy of http//www.spartacus.schoolne
t.co.uk/USAC16.htm
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Poem summary/meaning
This poem refers to an argument between a young
girl and her mother just before her tragic death
in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church.
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Personal Response
-Black History Month -We initially thought that
the poem was very sad. It basically sums up all
of the emotional and political turmoil of the
time during the civil rights movement.
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Theme
-Civil Rights -False Security
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Images
-lines 6-7 dogs are fierce and wild clubs
and hoses, guns and jails -line 14 guns will
fire -line 16 childrens choir -line
17-20 rose-petal sweet night-dark hair
-line 25 the explosion -line 29 clawed
through bits of glass and brick
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Symbols
-white gloves and white shoes -dogs, clubs,
hoses, guns, and jails -her shoe
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Sound Patterns

• Alliteration
• Title
• Line 14
• Line 16
• Line 26
• Line 32
• Assonance
• Line 5, 13
• Line 21

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Figures of Speech
Metaphors -Line 17 -Line 18 Personification Lin
e 26
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Structure
-ABCB rhyme -8 quatrains
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Works Cited
Collins, McNair, Robertson, Wesley." 23 May
2002. Online image. 16th Street Baptist Church
Bombing. 17 Feb 2004. lthttp//www.spartacus.sch
oolnet.co.uk/USAC16.htmgt.
Dudley (Felker) Randall. DISCovering Authors.
Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Reproduced in
Student Resource Center. Detroit Gale, 2004.
http//galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC
Dudley Randall." Online image. Modern American
Poetry. 18 Feb 2004. ltwww.english.uiuc.edu/.../
m_r/randall/randall.htmgt.
Dudley Randall. DISCovering Multicultural
America. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Reproduced
in Student Resource Center. Detroit Gale, 2004.
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Have a Nice Day!!!
Pictures Courtesy of WordArt