The setting in The Wastons Go to Birmingham is Flint, Michigan and Birmingham, Alabama. In the year 1963, Birmingham was known for civil rights movement. The year 1963 is a historically accurate date in history. People were protesting to gain equal treatment for blacks.
The Watsons Go To Birmingham was written after the supreme court ruling on segregation being unequal. However, life for many black people was very different from many white people. Dad and momma feel Flint is like a safe haven from the violence. They try to prepare Kenny, Byron and joetta for the way they might be treated going to Birmingham.
Race played a bigger role on things in Birmingham. Prejudice didn't seem real for Kenny, Byron and Joetta until they experience it for
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The book also mentions momma’s favorite song (1964) “ Under the Boardwalk” and Kenny’s favorite song “Yakety-Yak” (1958). These songs and TV shows would have been historically accurate for the time the book was written about. I researched the release dates of this part of the culture and they match the timeframe of the story.
The children had culture shock when they arrived in Ohio in chapter 10. They first thought the “rest stop was really cool. It was chopped right out of the forest and had picnic table made out of giant logs” (p. 138) This was until they went to the bathroom and they couldn't believe the smell or the flies. It was an outhouse they took toilet paper and went to the woods.
In the book, they first lived in Flint, Michigan. They had an ok life but while living there Byron was a very bad troublemaker. Byron, Kenny, Joetta knew nothing that was going on. After Byron did many bad actions his parents decided to send him to grandma Sands house to learn what's right and what’s wrong. But they didn't know that they were going till everything was very mischievous between their parents. In the book, mama and papa knew that there was going to be a rude awaking for their three children. They knew this because they hadn't experience