Educators and the Public Welcome to attend the Live Stream presentation at the Gloria Coles Flint Public Library, 10am-11am, Mott Community Room.

Christopher Paul Curtis discusses his book, The Watson Go to Birmingham-1963.  His presentation at the conference, There IS a Balm in Gilead: Healing From The Events Of 1963, is organized by The Historic Bethel Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Alabama to commemorate the 6oth Anniversary of the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Alabama, as referred to in The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963, wherein four girls were killed and 17 other injured during Sunday school, by a bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan. What happened in 1963 changed not only the city, but inspired similar movements for human and civil rights across the nation and around the world.

This year, 2023, the City of Birmingham commemorates sixty years since the Birmingham campaign for civil and human rights. As a part of the commemorative events, The Historic Bethel Baptist Church Community Restoration Fund of Birmingham, Alabama, is pleased to announce its conference on individual and community healing. The conference theme: “There IS A Balm in Gilead: Healing From The Events of 1963.” The conference will take place September 12-14, 2023 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Those directly and indirectly involved in the Modern Civil Rights Movement were significantly affected by the events of the 1950s and 1960s. Survivors still express remorse and weep whenever they share what they experienced during that time. The goal of the conference is to open doors of communication that will help foster healing for those victims directly and indirectly as well as the community as we unpack a legacy of hurt and shame. It has been well documented that the physical, emotional, mental, and intergenerational effects of trauma have lasting effects on individuals and communities.

Educator’s Resources on The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: Books to Parks project links widely-recognized works of children’s and young adult literature to the natural, cultural, and historical resources protected by the US government. By connecting young people to parks via literature, Books to Parks encourages youth to develop appreciation for and stewardship of NPS sites. Simultaneously, the project encourages critical engagement with literature, providing readers with carefully curated resources that facilitate deep contextualization of text