Literature Circle/Non-Fiction Article Blog

How does Birmingham change them as whole? In the book "The Watsons Go To Birmingham", The Watson family decided to go to Birmingham, Alabama as a vacation from their hometown and to visit their grandmother. What happens over there tells the reader how the Watsons and other African-Americans were treated. From being looked differently from others to the point where a church was bombed killed four children all because of their color (race). It changed the family's perspective into a whole lot of ways.

The similarities between "The Watsons Go To Birmingham"  and the article Racism Harms Children’s Health, Survey Finds, is that it's making African-American feel unaccepted in society.  According to the article Racism Harms Children’s Health, Survey Finds, it states that "Anderson tracked answers to this question, and compared them to the prevalence of various health issues that children were reported as having, including obesity and ADHD....She also found that children who had been exposed to racism were also more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression (Paragraph 5-6). This shows how children's who feel that society does not appreciate nor accept them, causing them to believe that they don't belong. This can cause themselves to get mental and physical disorders.

Another similarity that the article and book have is how African-American children believe how they should be normally treated. According to "The Watsons Go To Birmingham" it states that, "We'd seen the pictures of a bunch of really mad white people with twisted-up faces screaming and giving dirty finger signs to some little Negro kids who were trying to go to school. I'd seen the pictures but I didn't really know how these white people could hate some kids so much (page 122-23)". This shows how Kenny (the narrator of the book) recalls how white people would treat them and they (the children) would believe that this is how they are supposed to be treated and that it is normal for them.

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