Jailed Children (Children's March) -- Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham AL
N 33° 30.970 W 086° 48.831
16S E 517287 N 3708526
A second powerful sculpture by James Drake highlights the bravery of young black schoolchildren who marched peacefully for their right to attend white schools, knowing that they would be jailed in the Birmingham city jail for that
Waymark Code: WM106GT
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 03/07/2019
Views: 0
As a parent, one more horrifying aspect of the Birmingham struggle for civil rights was the decision by Bull Connor, Birmingham's infamous Police Commissioner (and later Mayor), to jail young black children in the Birmingham City Jail for the "crime" of trying to attend white schools.
This powerful sculpture by James Drake is again into pieces one on either side of the sidewalk. The east side sculpture is of 2 black children standing in the doorway of school. On the steps a written the words "I ain't afraid of your jail."
On the west side, is a representation of a barred window in the Birmingham city jail, which gives the visitor a sense of what it must've been like to look through barred windows at the outside world simply for trying to go to school 9 years after schools were officially (but not practically) desegregated in the United States after the Brown decision.
Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Jailed Children
Figure Type: Human
Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: James Drake
Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 1993
Materials used: Bronze and Steel
Location: Kelly Ingram Park
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