Ballad of Birmingham

Ballad of Birmingham (On the Bombing of a Church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)" is a 1963 poem by Dudley Randall. It was written in response to the 1963 bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church.

Ballad of Birmingham depicts an African-American mother and her daughter conversing about a "Freedom March" in the streets of Birmingham. The young child asks permission to participate in the march, but her mother objects and describes the dangers that exist for the freedom marchers. Instead, she is sent to church, which is perceived to be a place of safety. Soon, after the daughter leaves for church, an explosion is heard. The mother unfortunately discovers that her daughter’s life has been taken from her in one violent act of racism.

The poem was first published as a front page feature in the leftist newsletter Correspondence, and later by Randall's Detroit-based Broadside Press as the first issue in his "Poems of the Negro Revolt" series. It originally sold for 35 cents and was later re-issued, in a new format, at 50 cents. The republication, designed by Shirley Woodson, included a cover illustration of six white-robed black figures with heads bowed. The ballad style and broadside format alluded to established tradition of politically-charged elegiac ballads circulated in print through the 18th and 19th centuries.

"Ballad of Birmingham" has since been reprinted in Poem Counterpoem, a 1966 collection of works by Randall and Margaret Danner and Cities Burning, a 1968 collection of Randall's poetry.

Folk/jazz musician Jerry Moore set the poem to music on his 1963 album Life is a Constant Journey Home. It has since been recorded by Santayana Harris and others.

References

• Randall, Dudley (1965) "Ballad of Birmingham." Rpt. in Gardner, Janet E. et al (2009) Literature: A Portable Anthology. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford, pp. 588-589 ISBN 9780312461867
• Sullivan, James Donal (1997) On the Walls and in the Streets: American Poetry Broadsides from the 1960s. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press ISBN 0252066243 (note: Sullivan misattributes the musical adaptation of "Ballad of Birmingham" to "Jerry Lewis")
• Boyd, Melba Joyce (2003) Wrestling With the Muse: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press. New York: Columbia University Press ISBN 0231503644
• Boyd, Melba Joyce (2009) African American Life: Roses and Revolutions: the Selected Writings of Dudley Randall. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press ISBN 0814335306

External links

• "Ballad of Birmingham" at poetryfoundation.org
• "Ballad of Birmingham" by Jerry Moore on YouTube.com