We Were the Fire: Birmingham 1963

Gr 4-7–Impressive Oliver distinctly ciphers each of observant 11-year-old Rufus’s extended community in National Book Award finalist Moses’s fictionalization of the Children’s Crusade, a pivotal May 1963 event in Birmingham, AL. Two years after Rufus Sr.’s death, Mama remarries and Rufus and younger sister Georgia welcome Daddy Paul. While Governor George Wallace demands “segregation now...segregation tomorrow,” Mama and Paul move the family into the next-door home of the local mill owner, kind and welcoming Miss Boone. The white neighbors—and the KKK—are quick to announce their hatred. And yet the Civil Rights Movement is well underway: while the adults strategize their protests, energized by MLK’s impending visit, the children realize they, too, hold power for change. Despite Mama’s understandably fearful admonishments, Rufus is determined to do his part.