Comparing When School Was Scary And Ballad Of Birmingham

The article When School Was Scary and the poem Ballad of Birmingham share the common theme of celebrating diversity. Both share the once well-known problem of segregation. Both tell of events that helped change America forever. In When School Was Scary, the Little Rock Nine was a group of black kids who just wanted to go to school. In Ballad of Birmingham, a black girl dies in her mother’s attempts to protect her. These show celebrating diversity because the hate was because of skin color.

In the article When School Was Scary, the author shows the reader that there was a lot of violence against the Little Rock Nine, especially Elizabeth Eckford after a picture of people against her made the news. “On the morning of September 4, a photographer had taken a picture of a girl screaming at Elizabeth. It appeared in the newspapers all over the country.” This is why she got the most hate. She was the most famous of the Little Rock Nine. Although each of the nine had bodyguards, they couldn’t stop everything and the nine got bullied a lot. “They threw ink, books, and rocks at them. Elizabeth got some of the worst abuse. People pushed her down the stairs. They put broken glass in her gym shower. They lit balls of paper on fire and threw them at her.” People really did hate her. What the students did to her

was really bad. Balls of paper? On fire? That’s over just crazy. The Little Rock Nine didn’t deserve any of that. Unfortunately, at the time, people didn’t think blacks belonged.
In the poem Ballad of Birmingham, the author shows the reader that a girl meets an unfortunate end in her mother’s attempts to protect her.

“The mother smiled to know that her child was in the sacred place, but that smile was the last smile to come across her face.” Her daughter would have been safe on any other day, or even in the Freedom March she wanted to walk in. “For when she heard the explosion, her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham calling for her child.” She was so sad to discover that her child was in the explosion. Sad to realize that she would never call back. The way people acted because of a certain race was really

sad.
Both texts share the common theme of celebrating diversity. Both have violence against people because they’re different, which sucks. “Each of the black students had a soldier as a bodyguard. The bodyguards walked the students to and from class to protect them, but they couldn’t be everywhere.” Them not being able to be everywhere with them helped people get away with bullying. It’s really harsh that the students needed a bodyguard because people didn’t agree with their skin color/race. “She clawed through bits of glass and brick, then lifted out a shoe. ‘Oh, here’s the shoe my baby wore, but, baby, where are you?’” The mother was clearly distraught as she held up the shoe. The violence against blacks was ridiculous. Birmingham even earned the nickname “Bombingham” because of it. If we could turn back time, I’m sure we would.
The theme of celebrating diversity remains true in both texts. Even though the plots waver, they seem to mix because all the hate and fear was against people’s differences in both text pieces. They still waver though. In When School Was Scary, the students only got bullied, even to extreme levels, but in Ballad of Birmingham, someone actually dies. The mood of the poem is light in the beginning but makes a sharp turn towards sorrowful it the last 3 stanzas. In When School Was Scary, the mood is fearful through almost all of it. Unfortunately, people back in that time period weren’t very friendly towards blacks. Now, however, is a much better time to be in, because now, we’re free to be different.