Lit Circle Blog 2

          In the book The Watsons Go To Birmingham there are many essential questions I had about the book. One of those essential questions was “How would Birmingham affect the Watson family”, that essential question ties in with the book. For the entire book the Watson family encountered basically little to no racism. By the way they were in the 1960s and were African Americans which was kinda of a shock to me. Maybe it was because they lived in Flint, Michigan but then later in the book they went to Birmingham, Alabama. Which was a hotspot for racism in the 1960s. But still they hadn’t encountered any racism. Then on a Sunday in the book Joey the youngest child went to church all by herself. Then the church got bombed. The church got bombed due to it being all African American church. Then hearing about the bombing Kenny went to see if his sister was alive, and luckily she was. Then a few days after the left and went back home to Flint. It didn’t really seem like Birmingham had an effect on anyone until Kenny started to isolate himself from the rest of his family. He had gotten depression from the bombing because even though his sister was safe other children had died in the bombing, which is a clear effect from Birmingham on a member of the Watson family. It lead to Kenny breaking down in tears just about thinking about it, until his brother Byron made him stop crying.

          One of the main points of The Watsons Go To Birmingham directly ties into a Smithsonian Magazine article named “Racism Harms Children’s Health, Survey Finds”. The book and the article both have similarities. In the article it talks a lot about stuff that happens in the book. It talks about how racism affects children. While in the book Kenny is affected by racism. The church is bombed and weeks after Kenny is still thinking about it. Kenny’s health is affected by the bombing of the church, which was a act of racism. The main point of the article is exactly what happened to Kenny. The article talks about the health effects that racism has on the lives of children, which we see what happen in Kenny. Kenny gets depression due to racism. 

          Another thing that the article and the book have in common. One of the points in the article directly could affect Kenny’s life as a whole. In the article it talks about how children affected by racism tend to avoid other races of people. Kenny kept thinking about the bombing weeks and weeks after it happened. What if Kenny starts to avoid people of different races in fear of another attack due to racism. What if the bombing makes Kenny paranoid? The effects that racism can have on Kenny’s health is endless.  

 

Work Cited Page

Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons go to Birmingham: 1963. New York: Yearling Book, 2013. Print.

Panko, Ben. "Racism Harms Children’s Health, Survey Finds." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian     Institution, 05 May 2017. Web. 12 May 2017.