In the nineteen sixties numerous Civil Rights marches started at the Baptist church in Birmingham, AL. This church was an important spiritual building for the Black community and a regular gathering spot for Civil Rights coordinators. To interrupt meetings and church services, members of the Ku Klux Klan would often call bomb threats in to the local authorities (Pruitt1). The "Ballad of Birmingham,"" written by Dudley Randall in nineteen sixty-nine, is based on the bombing of the Birmingham church on September fifteenth nineteen sixty-three. Tone and irony is utilized throughout the poem "Ballad of Birmingham " to illustrate the consequences of a mother's decision, and her responsibility for the safety and protection of her child. In the nineteen sixties, both black adults and children took part in freedom marches and rallies. It was not uncommon for a child to want to partake in such events like the little girl in the poem. .
In the first stanza, the child pleads with her mother to allow her to partake in a freedom march with the other children. The girl is distraught as she desires to assist in the bettering the lives of the blacks: "Mother dear, may I go downtown/ Instead of out to play, /And march the streets of Birmingham " (Randall 1-3). The mother knows that violence follows the freedom marches and she is worried about her child's safety and will not let her attend the freedom march. To protect her child from the violence that comes with the march, she is set on her attending church. One usually views a church as a sort of safe haven, not a place where violence occurs such as a bombing. The mother's fear of the child partaking in the freedom march is what ultimately puts the child in the wrong place.
"No, baby, no, you may not go,.
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead .
And sing in the children's choir"" (Randall 13-16).
The ironic thing about the mother forcing the girl into going to church is that it turns out to be the worst place or her child to be and her goal of protecting her child ultimately fails.
