One of the other biggest literary devices that Randall uses in the poem is symbolism. There are keys words in the line of the poem that hint toward or symbolize parts of society. “ ‘Ballad of Birmingham’ is a historical marker” (Boyd 65). The society that is being represented here comes from the Civil Rights Movement. Violence is one of the main symbols represented throughout the poem “For the dogs are fierce and wild, / And clubs and hoses, guns and jails” (Randall 6-7). These words depict the violence. Unfortunately, the words in the poem that depict violence could also describe the policemen during the Civil Rights Movement. Many times the policemen would start the violence during the protests. Described through the words of the poem, it
In 'Ballad of Birmingham,' Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march for civil rights and a mother who wishes only to protect her child. Much of this poem is read as dialogue between a mother and a child, a style which gives it an intimate tone and provides insight to the feelings of the characters. Throughout the poem the child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there. The mother, on the other hand, is very adamant that the child should not go because it is dangerous. It is obvious that the child is concerned about the events surrounding the march and wants to be part of the movement. The child expresses these feelings in a way
This poem has numerous allusions to the civil rights movements. Such as “No No No I’m not going to move” (7) this quote alludes to when Rosa Parks would not give her seat to a white man. “…Montgomery... Birmingham…Selma…” (9) alludes to the freedom marches during the civil rights movement. “Four little girls” (9) this quote alludes to the 4 little girls killed sparking the civil rights movement. This
In the New York Times article, “Birmingham Bomb Kills Four Negro Girls in Church; Riots Flare; Two Boys Slain”, reporter Claude Sitton gives plenty of details about what occurred the Sunday morning of September 15th. The beginning of the article states that the bombing of the all Negro church killed four black girls (Cynthia Weasley, 14, Denise McNair, 11, Carol Robertson, 14, Addie Mae Collins, 14) and injured fourteen Negroes. Claude also explains that during the hours following the bombing and explosion, others were hurt and killed. The hours after the bombing were chaotic and Birmingham was in complete mayhem. Among the killings were two young black boys shot, sixteen year old Johnny Robinson and fourteen year old Virgil Wade. Among the
In the poem ‘Southern Cop,’ Sterling A. Brown uses an array of rhetorical devices to reiterate the poem’s purpose. One of the rhetorical devices he uses is parallel structure, which he uses to express the the other two rhetorical devices in a more expressive way. He also uses sarcasm throughout the poem to show the underlying harm being caused by the casual approach to the problem. . Brown also uses understatement, expressing the shooting of the negro as lesser than it should be taken (if it was real.) Sterling A. Brown uses these devices to express the poems purpose.
Violence seems to be quite a common topic in black American literature of the first decades of the 20th century. One major reason for this is probably that it was important for black authors not to be quiet about the injustices being done to them. The violence described in the texts is not only of the physical kind, but also psychological: the constant harassment and terrorising. The ever-present violence had such an effect on the black that they just could not fight back to stop the injustices.
April 12, 1963, in an Alabama Birmingham Gaston motel room, twenty-five Southern Christian leaders sitting together seriously discussed whether to continue their protest activities in a despairing and helpless atmosphere. It was because two days ago, Birmingham government just got a ban from the court to prohibit black people from holding protest activities; otherwise, they would arrest and punish all the protestors severely. Nevertheless, as the leader of the activities, Martin Luther King knew that if he refused to comply with the court injunction, he would be jailed, but in order to keep his promise that he would adhere to struggle for African-American civil right, he insisted to lead the protest to fight for black people. In fact, about
By using various forms of animal imagery throughout the poem, McKay helps to convey both the intense situation occurring between blacks and whites and the barbarity with which whites attacked blacks. While animals normally symbolize the natural order of the world, McKay uses them to greater show the inhumanity of whites
“The Ballad of Birmingham” along with the Review of “4 Little girls” are personal and touching. Randall and Ebert use a language that speak to the heart and move the reader, Ebert even goes into discussing how those four children could have done something great and monumental however, since they were killed at such a young age we will never know what would have become of them (Ebert paragraphs 3 and four). He even uses description to make the girls seem innocuous and pure causing the act to look even more jarring and barbarous. Further more, both discuss the disheartening un-saftey of the town. Dudley Randal portrays this in the repeated refrain where the mother says “No, baby, no, you many not go, For the dogs are fierce and wild, And clubs and horses, guns and jails Aren’t good for a little child,”(Randall verse 2).Throughout the poem he is able to clearly emphasize the mother’s worry for her child. Roger Ebert discusses the major problem of racism at the time and how the bombing was “the catalyst for the civil right movement, the moment when all of America could look away no longer from the face of racism,”(Ebert paragraph 1). On the other hand, neither of the articles mention where Birmingham is or about how the bombing of the church was a recherché example of how people with a skin color other than white were treated at the
I’m going to writing about the bombing in Birmingham. If you don’t know about what, when, and how it happened this is the paper you’re looking. You might have questions about the things I talk about in this paper. But it’s ok because when I first started reading articles about my topic it was confusing. So relax, read this paper, and will you understand more about the bombing in Birmingham.
For centuries, racism has plagued America. People of black ethnicity have been specifically targeted at the most. The bombing of Birmingham, Alabama was an especially tragic example of said attacks. Countless innocent black men, women, and children were shot and killed in the events following the bombing.
Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham” is a look into the effects of racism on a personal level. The poem is set in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The tone of the title alludes to the city of Birmingham as a whole. The poem gives the reader, instead, a personal look into a tragic incident in the lives of a mother and her daughter. The denotation of the poem seems to simply tell of the sadness of a mother losing her child. The poem’s theme is one of guilt, irony, and the grief of losing a child. The mother feels responsible for the death of her child. The dramatic irony of the mother’s view of church as being a “safe haven” for her child is presented to the reader through the mother’s insistence that the young girl
The poem uses this simile to show how the brutality and un-human nature of the attacks on African Americans were.
Even though France did not join just to help the new world, they stepped in as a revenge for past wars that did not turned so good for them against the British Empire. Although The battle of Saratoga was not that violent and it surely did not had the most casualties of all the battles in the revolutionary war, we still have to remark the incredible effect it had for the conflict’s
The story set place during the Civil Right movement in a black household of a little girl and her mother. The poem signal that African Americans are not gifted with their freedom when the girl asked her mother to join the Freedom March “to make our country free” (Randall). Getting their freedom taken away, many African American children march the street of Birmingham to regain their natural rights. Taking a stand to fight for one’s right is the responsibilities of everyone. Another example is the mother’s reason for refusing to let her daughter go march because of her fear of the danger behold there. The mother then direct her daughter to “go to church instead” (Randall). Ironically, the girl meet her fate at the place thought to be the most sacred place. This ironic situation revealed that ignoring the violation of the rules upon civil rights is as dangerous as challenging it.
In this poem there is a lot of figurative language. One of the biggest types of figurative language used in this poem is irony. The irony in this poem is how the mother wouldn't let her child go to march because she feared her child would get hurt. Instead she sent her child to church because she believed it was a safe and sacred place but ironically the church ended up being bombed. Another piece of figurative language that is very effective in this poem is imagery. The way the poem is written helps me create images in my head for example, "She raced through the streets of Birmingham." I can imagine her running around desperately, looking for her child. The metaphors and hyperboles in this poem also help with the imagery, for example, "...night dark hair," and "…rose-petal sweet." These metaphors make me think of the girls smoothly combed black hair and her fresh and beautiful rosy smell. A hyperbole that had a huge effect on the tone was, "But that smile was the last smile to ever come upon her face." This hyperbole really helps me understand the effect of a tragic moment like this and how it can completely ruin