Analysis Of Ballad Of Birmingham By Dudley Randall

The poem “Ballad of Birmingham” was written in 1969 by Dudley Randall. At the age of 13, Dudley Randall published his first poem which appeared in the Detroit Free Press. He is a poet, editor, publisher, and founder of Broadside Press in 1965. While Randall was earning his degree in English and library science, he was working at the post office as well. After earning his degrees, he became a librarian at the University of Detroit in which he retired from the job in 1974. Dudley Randall became an important publisher of African-American poets. A question that the audience would ask the author is, did he undergo any suffering or was ever overlooked reason being he was an African-American poet? “Ballad of Birmingham”, consisted of 199 words, 32 lines, and 8 stanzas. Dudley Randall’s poem discusses the topic of a bombing that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama. The first stanza of this poem stated, “Mother dear, may I go downtown / Instead of out to play, / And march the streets of Birmingham / In a freedom march today?” (1-4). The purpose to the first stanza is to show how a young serious minded little girl implied to her mother that she would much rather be participating in the freedom march than playing outside. However, the mother refuses to let her daughter engage in the freedom march because she fears that she …show more content…
Many individuals may take this poem to heart because racial violence is a very serious and heartbreaking matter. Some readers may have even experienced racial violence themselves as well. The author Dudley Randall, succeeded in the poem and used great literary devices. Furthermore, he was able to get many reader’s attention and engage in the poem. This poem just comes to prove that no matter how hard you attempt to protect the one you love, there is no place in the world when it comes to racial