Flint, MichiganThe story starts off in Flint, Michigan, where the main character Kenny lives with his family. Since the title highlights the Watsons going to Birmingham, readers may be surprised to discover that most of the book takes place in Flint. Paul (2004) notes: "The edition of the novel I am using is 206 pages long. The Watson family doesn't leave their home in Flint, Michigan, for Birmingham, Alabama, until page 130" (p. 20).
Rather than determining that Curtis is a "clumsy plotter," though, Paul explains that he is a "skillful one," because the time in Flint carefully connects readers with the family's home life and the children's school and neighborhood. On the Road...When the Watsons head down the I-75 for Alabama, mother Wilona has a meticulously created road trip plan: "Momma had everything planned about the trip, everything! Where we'd eat, when we'd eat...She'd figured out how long we could hold ourselves between going to the bathroom, how much money we'd spend..." (Curtis, 1995, p. 88).
Although the family teases Wilona about her attention to detail, it becomes clear that she is motivated by gravely serious concerns. When they enter the Appalachian mountains, Byron tells Kenny: "Man, they got crackers and rednecks up here that ain’t never seen no Negroes before. If they caught your ass out here like this they’d hang you now, then eat you later" (p. 96). The car ride is largely filled with laughter and music from the "True Tone AB-700 model Ultra-Glide" record player. Still, the dangerous reality of traveling while black is omnipresent and foreshadows what is to come in Birmingham. See also: The 'Green Book' Was a Travel Guide Just for Black Motorists and New York Public Library's Green Book Digital Collection. |
Birmingham, AlabamaWhen the Watsons arrive in Birmingham, Kenny observes that "Birmingham looked a lot like Flint! There were real houses, not little log cabins, all over the place! And great big beautiful trees. Most of all, though, there was the sun" (p. 102). And, like the sun, Grandma Sands welcomes her family and makes them feel at home.
Birmingham, however, feels foreign in other ways. The Watsons must adjust to the heat "like an oven" (p. 107) that they are unaccustomed to, and Kenny nearly drowns when caught in the whirlpool at Collier's Landing. Having initially discounted the danger, Kenny is left disoriented, and this sets the stage for the defining event in Birmingham: the bombing of the church. |
Time Period
With the year 1963 prominently called out in the book title, the historical time period is a central aspect of the setting. Curtis includes a number of details that help immerse readers into the past. Below are a few examples of time period details:
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Images
- Banner image by Unsplash: https://pixabay.com/en/dirt-road-fog-dark-trees-forest-690427/
- Colored only image: https://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/2012/10/colored-school-historical-monument-for-civil-rights-or-bad-memory-of-racism/colored-only-sign/
- Car record player image: http://gajitz.com/road-tunes-weird-vintage-1950s-in-car-record-players/
- Buster Brown Image: http://www.tvacres.com/adanimals_tigebusterbrown.htm