This is a hilarious, touching, and tragic novel about civil
rights and the impact of violence on one African American
family. Narrated by Kenny, 9, the story tells about his
middle-class black family, the Watsons of Flint, Michigan,
and their trip to Birmingham, Alabama, to visit Grandma.
They happen to be in Birmingham when Grandma’s church
is bombed.
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/christopherpaulcurtis/index.htm
Award Winning Author……..
On the left, Chris age 18 with his cousin.
Christopher Paul Curtis at age three getting a
haircut.
The Newbery Medal

This novel won the Newbery Medal
 A prestigious award for children’s literature.
 This means that this book is a significant
contribution to literature.
 Decided by a committee who evaluates books
based on the traits of writing.
 Each year, the winners of the Newbery medal
and honor books are announced by the
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)
Author Bio….1953
Christopher Paul Curtis was born and raised in
Flint, Michigan. After completing high school, he
spent the next thirteen years working at Flint's
historic Fisher Body Plant on the assembly
line. Curtis began keeping a journal while at
work to record specific happenings during the
day. While working, he began drafting The
Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963. A lot of the
story parts and situations came from direct
experience with his job.
Christopher Paul Curtis

The Watson’s Go to Birmingham--1963 was Curtis’ first novel
for young readers. The book won both a Newbery Honor
Award and a Coretta Scott King Honor Award. Also, Curtis’
debut novel has been awarded a myriad of other honors,
including being named a Best Book of 1995 by such
publications as The Horn Book, The Bulletin, The New York
Times Book Review, and Publishers Weekly. His second
book, Bud, Not Buddy, received the 2000 Newbery
Medal. Both of these novels unite aspects of Curtis’ family
heritage with pertinent and recent American history. This
combination enables the author to craft stories that are
entertaining and subtly humorous with characters that seem
real and that you can relate to.
Christopher Paul Curtis

Curtis was able to horn in on his talents as a writer with
much help from his family, especially his wife,
Kaysandra. She supported his aspirations to be a writer
and guided him away from the Fisher Body Plant and
more toward his goals. Curtis’ ancestry also points
down the road of entertainment and success. His
grandfathers were Earl "Lefty" Lewis, a Negro Baseball
League pitcher, and Herman E. Curtis, Sr., 1930s
bandleader of "Herman Curtis and the Dusky
Devastators of the Depression,"
Interesting Facts and His
Own Words……
Previous Jobs
Factory worker, campaign worker, maintenance man, customer
service representative,warehouse clerk, purchasing clerk
Favorite Hobbies
Playing basketball, collecting old record albums, writing
Favorite Foods
Mexican, Indian, West Indian
Favorite Books
Anything by Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut, and Zora Neale Hurston
Inspiration For Writing (in CPC's own words)
"I believe that young people are often blessed with the best ears for detecting
what rings true or what feels right in a particular piece of writing. To me the
highest accolade comes when a young reader tells me, 'I really liked your
book.' The young seem to be able to say 'really' with a clarity, a faith, and
an honesty that we adults have long forgotten. That is why I write."
AMERICAN CULTURAL HISTORY
1960 - 1969
FACTS about this decade
*Population 177,830,000 (309,975,000)
*Unemployment 3,852,000 (12.3 million Oct./2012)
*National Debt 286.3 Billion ($15,856,367,214,324 as of 6/30/2012)
*Average Salary $4,743 (2011 - $42,979.61)
*Teacher's Salary $5,174 (average in U.S. - $50,000)
*Minimum Wage $1.00 ($7.25 in 2012)
*Life Expectancy: Males 66.6 years, Females 73.1 years
*Auto deaths 21.3 per 100,000
TELEVISION
Television offered the second prime time cartoon show, the Flintstones , in 1960.
(The first was Rocky and his Friends in 1959.) It appealed to both children and adults and
set off a trend that included Alvin & the Chipmunks , the Jetsons , and Mr. Magoo.
The Andy Griffith Show was the epitome of prime time family television, and ran for most of
the decade. The Beverly Hillbillies heralded the rise of the sitcom. The supernatural and
science fiction blended in many of the popular shows, including Bewitched, The Addams Family,
My Favorite Martian , I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek, the Outer Limits , and the Twilight Zone.
In the late 60's, humor was revived in a show called Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, where
many regular performers and guests became part of a show biz classic.
The Conk Hairdo
The Conk originated in the 1920s and was stylized by entertainer
Cab Calloway. The style was an attempt by black males to
straighten their hair, and it was a painstaking process of “relaxing”
the hair with a solution dominated by lye. In order to keep the
humidity from causing the hair to return to its natural curly state,
men would wear fabric on their heads called do-rags.
By the mid -1960s, the conk died out, as most entertainers
(and therefore the general public in kind) began to move towards
a more natural look which emphasized pride in black heritage,
a look that would eventually evolve into the Afro.
Afro
conk
The Life and Times of Buster Brown
•
•
•
•
•
125 years ago in 1878, a young man named George Warren Brown believed St.
Louis could become a manufacturing center for the shoe industry. He invested his life
savings and founded his own little company to manufacture and sell shoes.
That little company is now a major corporation with annual sales of $2.3 billion. Brown
Shoe today is the No. 1 retailer of value-priced, brand-name shoes for the American
family. Plus, we still own and market such well known brands as Buster Brown shoes
for kids, and Naturalizer, LifeStride and Connie shoes for women.
Many people mistakenly think Brown Shoe was named after the much-loved Buster
Brown character. In fact, our Buster Brown shoe brand came 25 years later.
In 1904 at the "Meet Me In St. Louis" World's Fair, a young Brown Shoe executive
met Buster Brown's creator, cartoonist Richard F. Outcault, and purchased the name
from him. At the time, Buster Brown was a mischievous cartoon character, who,
together with his dog Tige and sister Mary Jane, delighted children of all ages.
Brown Shoe made marketing history when it sent on the road a series of midgets, each
dressed as Buster and accompanied by a dog (Tige). They toured the entire country selling
Buster Brown shoes as they performed in theaters, department stores and shoe stores. In
those days, such a touring show generally brought out the whole town.
Civil Rights Movement in the United States:
Political, legal, and social struggle to gain full citizenship rights
for black Americans and to achieve racial equality.The civil rights movement
was first and foremost a challenge to segregation, the system of laws and
customs separating blacks and whites that whites used to control blacks
after slavery was abolished in the 1860s. During the civil rights movement,
individuals and civil rights organizations challenged segregation and
discrimination with a variety of activities, including protest marches, boycotts
and refusal to abide by segregation laws. Many believe that the movement
began with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and ended with the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, though there is debate about when it began and
whether it has ended yet.
The Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine



The Little Rock Nine, as they later came to be called, were the first black
teenagers to attend all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in
1957. These remarkable young African-American students challenged
segregation in the deep South and won.
Although Brown v. Board of Education outlawed segregation in schools, many
racist school systems defied the law by intimidating and threatening black
students—Central High School was a notorious example. But the Little Rock
Nine were determined to attend the school and receive the same education
offered to white students, no matter what. Things grew ugly and frightening right
away. On the first day of school, the governor of Arkansas ordered the state's
National Guard to block the black students from entering the school. Imagine
what it must have been like to be a student confronted by armed soldiers!
President Eisenhower had to send in federal troops to protect the students.
But that was only the beginning of their ordeal. Every morning on their way to
school angry crowds of whites taunted and insulted the Little Rock Nine—they
even received death threats. One of the students, fifteen-year-old Elizabeth
Eckford, said "I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob. . . . I looked
into the face of an old woman, and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at
her again, she spat at me." As scared as they were, the students wouldn't give
up, and several went on to graduate from Central High. Nine black teenagers
challenged a racist system and defeated it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream"
August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Civil Rights Timeline 1963
Police arrest King and other ministers demonstrating in
Birmingham, Ala., then turn fire hoses and police dogs on the
marchers.
 Medgar Evers, NAACP leader, is murdered June 12 as he
enters his home in Jackson, Miss. About 1,300 people march
from the Central Area to downtown Seattle, demanding
greater job opportunities for blacks in department stores.The
Bon Marche promises 30 new jobs for blacks.
 About 400 people rally at Seattle City Hall to protest delays in
passing an open-housing law. In response, the city forms a
12-member Human Rights Commission but only two blacks
are included, prompting a sit-in at City Hall and Seattle's first
civil-rights arrests. 250,000 people attend the March on
Washington, D.C. urging support for pending civil-rights
legislation. The event was highlighted by King's "I have a
dream" speech.



The Seattle School District implements a voluntary racial transfer
program, mainly aimed at busing black students to mostly white
schools.
Four girls killed Sept. 15 in bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church in Birmingham, Ala.
KEY ELEMENTS…….
Point of View

A story may be told from the first-person or
the third-person point of view.
– If the narrator takes part in the action of the story
and refers to himself or herself as “I”, the story is
told from the first-person point of view.
– If the narrator is outside the story and does not
refer to himself or herself at all, the story is told
from the third-person point of view.

This story is told in the first-person point of
view.
Themes:
•Family life, civil rights and the power
of prejudice
Allusion

An allusion is a reference to someone or
something from literature, history, religion,
mythology, or another field that is familiar to
many people. Allusions enrich the reading
experience by providing, in just a few words, an
additional layer of meaning and emotional
content.
– For example, when Byron’s lips are frozen to the car
mirror, Joey alludes to “Nar-sissy”. She’s referring to
Narcissus, a youth in Greek mythology who loves no
one until he sees his own reflection in a pool. He
remains there, pining after his own image until he dies.
– Chapter 3: The World’s Greatest Dinosaur War
Ever….The Americans vs the Nazis
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 is rich
in allusion. Here are two more examples:

Chapter 7: “Yul Watson” the “long-lost son from Siam” alludes to
actor Yul Brynner, who shaved his head for the role in the 1956
film The King and I.

Chapter 11: The question et tu, Brute? Is a Shakespearean
allusion. The title character in Julius Caesar asks it when his
friend Brutus betrays him by joining his assassins.
Figure of Speech…HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole: a figure of speech in which
exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect
rather than deception.
– I’d give my right arm for a piece of pizza.
– This book weighs a ton.

Christopher Paul Curtis uses hyperbole,
often as a way of adding humor to the story.
Literary Elements….
MOOD/ATMOSPHERE

The mood or atmosphere is a feeling that a
literary work conveys to readers. A mood is
an emotion such as sadness,excitement, or
anger.
– The atmosphere in Chapters 1-11 is humorous
and lighthearted. Soon after the family reaches
Alabama, however, the atmosphere changes.
– For example, in Chapter One: the mood is fun
because of such details as exaggerated
description of the cold and of other characters;
Dad’s jokes; and Byron’s freezing his lips to the
car mirror.
Prior Knowledge……



Helen Keller: she was
born a healthy infant,
but was struck by an
illness that left her blind
and deaf before she
learned how to speak.
Smokey the Bear:
named after a real bear
who survived a forest
fire in the 1950s. This
started a campaign to
help prevent forest fires.
His motto is : “Only you
can prevent forest
fires.”
Bozo the Clown: a clown
from the 1960 show
“Bozo’s Circus”
AKA:
The Miracle Worker
Bozo