Birmingham 1963 Essay

In the poem, “Birmingham 1963” by Raymond R. Patterson, there are many words and images in the poem that refer to war. In 1963, blacks were segregated and everything was seperated by race. Blacks were treated unfairly and even going to school was traumatic and incredibly exhausting for colored children. In a young, black child's world, there was darkness. The darkness was filled with negative people that were unfair and hurtful towards blacks. No one but other blacks understood what the colored people would have to go through on a regular day basis. The only place that she could go to escape her reality was the church. The author states with a hopeful tone, “There was some pull which hurried her out to Sunday School, Toward the lesson and the parable’s good news”

Reading the word, “hurry,” makes the reader picture a young girl being bullied by white children and fighting to hold back the tears, as she frantically runs down the hallway. This was a typical day for any black child at school and even outside of school during the war. Once she got to church and listened to the parable, she started to feel a sense of peace and tranquility. As the poem progresses, it changes to a dark and deathly tone. Instead of a little girl living in a world of positivity and love, she is surrounded with pain and suffering. No matter where she goes, darkness will follow her. The little girl gets to the church and in a matter of minutes the entire church is bombed. This church was where blacks would go and because of the war and segregation, people wanted to bomb and destroy it. In the last couple of lines of the poem, the author uses specific word choice to influence the emotions of the reader. In a horrifying and lonely tone the author explains, “Her still, dull face, her quiet hair; Alone amid the rubble, amid the people, Who perish, being innocent” (Patterson