Ballad of Birmingham Response Paper

In "Ballad of Birmingham," Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a daughter who wishes to march for civil rights and her mother who wishes only to protect her child. 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 stern that the child should not go because it is dangerous.

Usually young children would rather go out and play then do well...a lot of things. When the little girl ask to go march for freedom instead of outside to play seems as if she wants to initiate her first step into discovering who she is and her own voice. Although the child wanted to march for a good cause, her mother insisted that she not go do to the impending dangers that could wait at the civil rights movement.

Both the mother and daughter both appealed to me because they both wanted the best out of the situation. The mother did what a lot of parents would do; keep their children out of danger. She thought two steps ahead of her daughter in order to keep her safe and out of trouble. The daughter in the poem also appealed to me for the simple fact that she wanted to do something productive instead of going outside to play, which she probably knew she could do at anytime.

The most disturbing part about this poem would have to be the fact that a bomb was place inside a place of worship with the intent to kill. On this day the innocence of children and adults alike was not take into consideration but instead their skin color. Another not as much disturbing but sad event that happened was when the mother heard an explosion and ran to the church through the streets of Birmingham to the church her daughter was at, only to find her shoe and not her daughter.

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