Transcript The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963
a collection of terms and images
related to Christopher Paul Curtis’s
1995 novel
the “brown bomber” (p. 6)
“That was what
we called our
car. It was a
1948 Plymouth
that was dull
brown and real
big, Byron said it
was turd brown.”
From Mike’s 1940’s Automobile Page @ http://free.prohosting.com/~plymouth/alexp15.jpg
conk (p. 87)
 “Byron had gotten a conk! A
process! A do! A butter! A ton of
trouble!
 His hair was reddish brown,
straight, stiff and slick-looking.
Parts of it stuck up like porcupine
stickers because Momma hadn’t
been too gentle when she snatched
the handkerchief off.”
“conk”
a lye-straightened
hairdo popularized in
the 1920s by Cab
Calloway
 image: the KINGS of SWING @
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/IPHS/Proj
ects/swing1/music/kings.htm
Cab Calloway
“Yakkety Yak”
 Kenny’s favorite song 
 Written by The Coasters
 Trivia! The group began in
Los Angeles as The
Robins. Later part of the
group split off and formed
a new group in New York.
They called themselves
The Coasters because of
their coast-to-coast roots.
Info: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame @ http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=81
Image: http://www.clarksvilleriverfest.com/images/Coasters.jpg
“Yakkety Yak”
Imagine Kenny and
his family listening
to this song while
sitting in the Brown
Bomber!
“Yakkety Yak” (p. 117)
“Each of us kids got to play four
songs each (I played “Yakety
Yak” all four times)…”
The Brown Bomber’s TT AB-700,
Ultraglide probably looked like this.
Image: http://home.swipnet.se/~w-49476/100.htm
Buster Brown shoes (p. 142)
“I took her shoes off for her, and
inside one of her shoes was a kind of
worn-down picture of a little white
boy with a girl’s hairdo and a smiling
dog. In a circle around both of them
it said, “Buster Brown.”
Image: http://www.famousfootwear.com/shop.asp?shopid=bustr
Buster Brown shoes (p. 142)
“As I drifted back to sleep I wondered what a
little white boy would think if he knew he was
getting stepped on every day by my sister.”
image: http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/fashion/fa1152.php
Outhouses
Open, black hole
Flies
Gagged
Sears Catalogs
Flint Skyline
Southern Sky
“Redneck & Hillbillies”
The Wool Poo
Whirlpool
Buster Brown shoes: journal
•Do you remember the next time Kenny
notices the inside of Joey’s shoes? Re-read
chapter 14, especially p. 187 if you need to
review.
•How does Kenny finding the shoe make
you feel? Take two or three minutes and
write down your thoughts.
Homework: imagery
•Think of images from the story that stand out in
your mind (not from this PowerPoint).
•Find a picture on the internet or in clip art, in a
magazine, or draw a picture of your own and
bring it to class tomorrow.
•Be prepared to describe where the image is in
the book (with page numbers!) and why you
think it’s important to the story.