Dudley Randall: Ballad

of Birmingham
Makenzie Compton, Meghan Dempsey, Brianna Hoehnke, Sylvana Williams
 Dudley Randall
• Born January 14, 1914 in D.C.(Whitt)
• Mother was a teacher and father was a minster
• African-American poet (Whitt)
• Had his first poem published when he was
thirteen in the Detroit Free Press (Jacques)
• Served in WW2 (Whitt) 
• Had many jobs including library work (Whitt)
• He founded a pioneering publishing company
called Broadside Press in 1965 (Jacques)
• Political writer(Whitt)
• Heavily influenced by the Civil Rights movement
• Most notable and recognizable work "Ballad of
Birmingham"
Quotes from Dudley Randall

"Then washed in the brightness of this vision, I saw how in its radiance would
grow and be nourished and suddenly burst into terrible and splendid bloom
the blood-red flower of revolution."
Background & Summary
• The premiseof this poem is set on the day of the 16th street church
bombings of 1963
• The poem opens with 4 stanzas detailing a little girl asking their mother in
various ways if they could attend the marches and rallies happening
throughout the city advocating for civil rights, while the mother says that it
is too dangerous
• The child gives in and follows the mothers wishes, instead of attending the
city marches the child opts to attend the church service.
• The last 4 stanzas of the poem are narration and explains the aftermath of
the mother's decision
• Then subsequently there is a shift and at end of the poem (last 2
stanzas) states that the child went to the church was involved in an explosion
 Background Cont.
• in
September of 1963, the KKK bombed the African American 16th Street Baptist Church, which was the largest
black Baptist church in Birmingham at the time. (Morrison)
• Sunday morning  Four church ushers (Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson)
were in the basement of the church preparing to start the church services. (Morrison)
• Klan members had placed 15 sticks of dynamite under the church stairwell, near the Girls' location. (Morrison)
• All 4 girls were killed while twenty other parishioners were seriously injured. (Morrison)
• Inthe initial aftermath, no one was charged. It took more than a decade, and a change in the social and political
climate, of the United States before one of the Klan members, Robert Chambliss, was convicted of first-degree
murder. (Morrison)
• Chambliss began serving his sentence when he was convicted in 1977 and remained in prison until his death in
1985. (Morrison)
• Twoother men were convicted of the murders of the four girls. In 2001 Thomas Blanton was found guilty of murder
and received a life sentence so did fellow Klan member, Bobby Cherry, in 2002. Cherry died in prison in 2004.
(Morrison)
• None of the convicted men ever acknowledged their guilt.
• Their deaths made America focus on the realities of racism and racially motivated terrorism in their own backyard
(Morrison)
BALLAD OF
BIRMINGHAM 

“Mother dear, may I go “No, baby, no, you may not go, 
downtown  For I fear those guns will fire. 
Instead of out to play,  But you may go to church For when she heard the
And march the streets of instead  explosion, ​
Birmingham  And sing in the children’s Her eyes grew wet and wild. ​
In a Freedom March today?”  choir.”  She raced through the streets of
Birmingham ​
“No, baby, no, you may not go,  She has combed and brushed Calling for her child. ​
For the dogs are fierce and her night-dark hair,  ​
wild,  And bathed rose petal sweet,  She clawed through bits of glass
And clubs and hoses, guns and And drawn white gloves on her and brick, ​
jails  small brown hands,  Then lifted out a shoe. ​
Aren’t good for a little child.”  And white shoes on her feet.  “O, here’s the shoe my baby
wore, ​
“But, mother, I won’t be alone.  The mother smiled to know her But, baby, where are you?”​
Other children will go with me,  child 
And march the streets of Was in the sacred place, 
Birmingham  But that smile was the last
To make our country free.”  smile 
To come upon her face. 
Figurative Language/ Literary Devices
• Rhyme-A,B,C.B

• Iambic Pantameter

• Ballad

• Alliteration

• Foreshadow and Situational Irony

• Symbolism:. Sacred place = church, safe place... Freedom March = modern

civil rights movement
• Imagery- Smell, See, Touch/Do, Hear

• Repetition

• Asonance: "No, baby, no, you may not go"

Type of Poem/ Speaker
• This poem is a ballad which is defined as a songlike
poem that tells a story, often one dealing with
adventure and romance. We know it is a ballad based on
the title "Ballad of Birmingham" entailing that the poem
is a ballad. 

• The speaker of the poem is originally a mother and a

daughter then shifts to a narrator outside of the
situation. 
Mood & Tone
• The mood and tone of the poem is very serious and
intense. Due to the tragedies that occurred in
Birmingham that day, the poem reflects the feelings of
horror and how quickly it all happened. This gave a
seriousness and intensity to the poems tone and mood. 
Theme 
• At this time, no place was safe from the tragedies of
racism, even a place of worship.  
Works Cited
• Whitt, Margaret. "Randall, Dudley." In Samuels, Wilfred D., ed. Encylopedia of
African-American Literature. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's
Literature, Facts On File, Inc. fofweb.infobase.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE54&WID=102239&SID=5&iPin=EAFL315&SingleRecord=True.
• Jacques, Geoffrey. "Boyd, Melba Joyce." In Samuels, Wilfred D., ed. Encylopedia of
African-American Literature. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. (Updated
2011.) Bloom's Literature, Facts On File, Inc. fofweb.infobase.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE54&WID=102239&SID=5&iPin=EAFL050&SingleRecord=True.
• Gillespie, Carmen. "Addie Mae Collins in the works of Toni Morrison." Critical
Companion to Toni Morrison: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical
Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literature, Facts On File,
Inc. fofweb.infobase.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE54&WID=102239&SID=5&iPin=CCFTM0747&SingleRecord=True.