Dudley Randall presents a poem called “Ballad Of Birmingham” that shows how normal family life can turn sour due to racial injustices in the United States. It was written during the 60’s. The Klu Klux Klan carried out the Birmingham Church attack because they didn’t want to accept parts of their newly integrated city. The bombing resulted in the deaths of four innocent children. This incident prompted Americans to be more aware of the racial violence that young people are experiencing as they grow up. This incident attracted national attention. Civil Rights Movement gained momentum due to its impact on the Civil Rights Movement. While she warns her daughter about the dangers of these incidents of defiance, her mother insists that she let her daughter go, as her friends will also be following her. Fearful of her daughter getting hurt, the mother suggests that she take her daughter to a local church. The church is blessed and her daughter will not be hurt while there. The mother hears a loud explosion as her child leaves her home. She then runs through the streets in search of her daughter. Her daughter is gone, but she doesn’t find any trace of her except for the shoe she wore today.
Dudley Randall focuses on the need for racial equality throughout the poem. He uses imagery and symbolism to persuade and portray his audience to support civil rights. He wants to encourage people who doubt their ability to join the fight. Randall uses the dramatic situation as a poem to invoke emotions. His poem shows a trusting, innocent relationship between a daughter and her mother. To make it more convincing, Randall takes a different perspective on a historical event. He makes the reader believe that this cruelty isn’t just a figment, but is a constant part of the hardships african-americans are facing every day. This poem has a melancholic and somber tone. The author’s use metaphors and other literary devices shows the anguish he suffered during that time of racial inequity. The author incites bitter feelings to grief by allowing the reader access to the horrific mother’s reactions to the explosion. The poem suggests that no establishment/place can be safe if people’s thoughts are polluted. It also teaches us that anything can happen, even if we least expect it. Randall uses imagery as well as irony to help readers visualize the events. The poem is synchronously emotional due to its unpleasant subject matter. By allowing the reader to make connections between the objects and the paradoxes created by the church meaning, the poetic elements help to put emphasis on the poet’s goals. The writer says that her eyes became watery and wild when she heard the explosion. She ran through Birmingham to call her child. This immediately portrays a mother in grief because she couldn’t find her baby amid the chaos and rumble of the bombing. The mother longs to find her daughter in the chaos, and the tears in her eyes reveal her irritation and insanity. Mothers can relate to the pain of the mother. Though it is hard for anyone to imagine losing their child, it is especially difficult for mothers. They are the ones who conceived the baby and have been with them since birth. The mother’s panicked eyes are a sign of panic. She is trying to find out if her daughter is okay or injured. Her daughter is missing and she has made it a point to urgently locate her.
It’s easy to imagine the mother going through such a horrific experience. The reader wants her to be calm and comfort her. But, deep down, she is distraught because her daughter is missing. The poet uses the church as her place of worship to draw irony. The church is meant to be a holy space where no wrongdoing is allowed. But in this instance, there was a crime committed and the child had to leave. Because of the potential for riots during these events, the mother tried to persuade her daughter to march in Birmingham to sing at the church. She fears for her child and doesn’t understand the safety precautions. Ironically, her daughter will find safety in the church, while the march won’t. However, she is not protected by the march. The events that follow her leaving the house are entirely contrary to what she intended. The fiery bombing kills the child, but her presence at the march would have protected her from all the harm that could occur. It was not expected that a political assembly, which is known for violence, is safer than the place where the child is. The bombing at the church, which was filled with hatred and racism, made it seem that the church is a place of purity.
The author uses metaphors and symbolisms to express the guiltlessness displayed by the little girl. The poet wanted the daughter to symbolize any innocent child. In America’s Civil Rights Movement, many African-American children were treated differently for their skin color. However, they did not discriminate against their personalities or knowledge. The mother added “white gloves to her small brown hands / and shoes to her feet” at the beginning of his poem. This is a reference to purity and decency. The color white has always been an emblem of purity and promise.
The reader can see that the child is not preoccupied by prejudiced opinions surrounding her. Yet, her beliefs are just as fair as her clothes. The poet uses symbolism as a way to express the purity and innocence of the daughter. It is easy to wonder why an innocent, powerless soul would be made a victim to such a cruel discriminatory act. This is a true depiction, not only of the prejudiced events in Alabama but also in many other southern states during the 1960’s. Randall’s metaphorical use of comparisons allows the reader to see the similarities between one thing and another. Randall gives objects and animals to the reader to represent something entirely different.
The Birmingham police are depicted by the poet as wild dogs. They were cruel against african-americans when they marched and protest peacefully. They used inhumane tactics against the protesters to disturb their peace. They used high-pressure water hoses to spray them and then used their clubs to attack them. Randall feels police were the only ones to prolong the fight against racism, rather than join it. Her daughter is also wearing “white gloves [drawn] in her small brown hands/ And white shoes at her feet,” which suggests that she is dressing for her death. Funerals can be held in churches on occasion. This gives the line an ironic meaning because most people wear black to funerals. However, the daughter doesn’t know that she will die so she is wearing white. Dudley Randall aims to make the reader feel sympathy and compassion for the Civil Rights Movement victims.
The poet does not use a single viewpoint to convey the awful reality of equality as a complicated conflict. The author effectively expressed his desire to make other citizens aware of the atrocities that were committed against african Americans from the 1950’s through the entire 1960’s. The author uses a variety of styles and materials to convey his feelings about the injustices that were committed not only to civil rights activists but also to young children. Fortunately, discrimination of this nature has decreased over the years, but it’s important that we acknowledge that such events happened so the past doesn’t repeat.
