In Dudley Randall’s, Ballad of Birmingham, he illustrates the horrific bombing of the 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. The poem starts with a young girl asking her mother for permission to attend a civil rights rally, though the girl is not granted her wish she is allowed to attend church. After a tragic turn of events the mother regrets her decision and feels as if she has failed to protect her precious daughter (Bonneville). Understanding the poem, Ballad of Birmingham, involves understanding the struggle of that time, the innocence within, and the tragedy that was portrayed. To begin, in the 1960’s southern states were still under laws which made it legal for racial segregation. Protest, marches, and so much more were organized nationwide, in hopes to restore civil rights for every single American, no…show more content… After the mother, has sent her child off to church, assuming she is safe. “she heard the explosion,” (Randall) the feelings, thoughts, anticipation running through her head at that very moment was a parent’s worst nightmare (Bonneville). “Her eyes grew wet and wild.” (Randall) without hesitation she ran, calling for her precious daughter, searching everywhere for a sign of her well-being. Arriving at the church, sorting through all the rubble the mother finally found a small white shoe, “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore, But, baby, where are you?” (Randall). The mother’s beautiful, colored, little girl is gone. Thus, Ballad of Birmingham, is a poem of struggle, innocence, and tragedy it is a real-life event that affected many. A day that forever changed lives, and one choice that ended a young girl’s life (Bonneville). The event itself is such a tragedy but poet, Dudley Randall, an African American put his sorrowful cares into word, making them into a beautiful poem. Only a man of such courage and admiration could do such a job of bringing out the best from the
