Series: Voices from the Field: The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

Voices from the Field consists of short essays on many aspects of The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963. Civil rights foot soldiers and experts from a range of disciplines including history, linguistics, literature, and psychology discuss how their research and lived experiences connect to both the fictional story and historical bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 1: Joe Louis

  

  Theresa Runstedtler, professor of History at American University, on boxer Joe Louis. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 2: Langston Hughes in the Classroom

  

  Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper, professor emerita of English at Spellman College, on Langston Hughes and references to his work in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 3: Play in Post-World War II America

  

  Steven Mintz, professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, on play in the 1950s and 1960s. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 4: Pretending to Survive

  

  Margaret Peacock, a professor of history at The University of Alabama, on children's war games before and during the "nuclear age" and their appearance in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 5: Post World War II Advertising Aimed At African American Consumers

  

  Robert E. Weems Jr., the Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History at Wichita State University, on the brand names and products mentioned in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 6: Credit At Grocery Stores

  

  Louis R. Hyman, professor of Labor Relations, Law, and History and Director of the Institute for Workplace Studies at Cornell University, on the grocery store credit system featured in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 7: The Hidden History of By Watson’s “Conk” Style Haircut in The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963

  

  Luis Alvarez, a professor of history at the University of California, San Diego, on the history of the "conk" haircut featured in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 8: Radio and Postwar Advertising

  

  Richard Popp, a professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, on radio and advertising in the historical setting of The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 9: Traveling While Black

  

  Gretchen Sorin, director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program at SUNY Oneonta, on the experience of Black travelers in the 1960s as portrayed in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 10: Language Variation

  

  Tracey Weldon, professor of English and Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost of Graduate Education at the University of South Carolina, on the regional dialects depicted in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 11: Hunting in the Mid-20th Century

  

  Julia Brock, assistant professor of History at the University of Alabama, on hunting in the South and its presentation in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 12: Magical Realism

  

  Wanda M. Brooks, a professor in the College of Education and Human Development at Temple University, on Christopher Paul Curtis' use of magical realism in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

  Article 13: Trauma

  

  Riana Elyse Anderson, professor of Health Behavior & Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, on the portrayal of trauma in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Read more