Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

Rosa Parks

The Gaston Motel, part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, is jointly managed by the City of Birmingham and the NPS. At a time when the city enforced the segregation of public accommodations such as parks, playgrounds, hotels, restaurants, theaters, and buses, the Gaston Motel provided a restaurant and accommodations to African American travelers. It played a prominent role during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement.

Acknowledgements for this article series. Christopher Paul Curtis’ novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 is part of the NPS Books to Parks project. Books to Parks links widely-recognized works of children’s and young adult literature to lands of natural, cultural, and historical significance that are protected by the United States government.

The Watsons stop at a rest area just outside of Toledo, Ohio, for a bathroom break and sandwiches with grape Kool-Aid. The place looks like a log cabin, which Kenny thinks is really cool, until he discovers that the bathroom is just an outhouse. There are no flush toilets!

Soon enough, the Watsons arrive at Grandma Sands’ house in Birmingham, Alabama. Kenny is surprised to discover that the neighborhood looks a lot like Flint, only with Alabama's famous sun and heat. Grandma Sands isn’t the big, mean-looking troll Kenny had imagined; instead, she is teeny-tiny and looks like an older, shrunken version of Momma. Smiling and crying, Grandma Sands hugs each of the Watson children, saying "my family, my beautiful, beautiful family."

Momma is upset by all the changes she sees in Birmingham and in Grandma Sands' home. While Kenny eats his breakfast, the women gossip about old friends and discuss race relations between the Black and white residents of Birmingham. Later, Mr. Robert brings Dad, Byron, Joey, and Kenny to the best local fishing spot, and Byron appears to be enjoying the company of the grownups.

Kenny, Byron, and Joey are going for a swim, and before they leave, Grandma Sands warns them about Collier's Landing. That's where a whirlpool caused a neighborhood boy to drown a couple of years earlier.

Kenny wakes up to see Joey getting ready for Sunday school. She is wearing a fluffy white skirt and her shiny black shoes. As Joey leaves, Kenny tells her she looks real pretty. Kenny falls asleep under Grandma Sands' magnolia free and wakes to a thunderous sound and shake. Then, for a brief moment, the world around Kenny seems to stop. Neighbors come outside to investigate the strange sound.

A couple of weeks after the church bombing, the Watsons are back home in Flint. Kenny overhears that the bomb killed four girls, injured many others, and was intentionally set by white men. Kenny feels safe in a special hiding spot in a small, dark area behind the sofa that Byron nicknamed the “World-Famous Watson Pet Hospital.”