The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

Blurb

The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 is a historical-fiction novel by Christopher Paul Curtis. It was written in 1995 and republished in 1997. It tells the story of a loving African American family, living in the town of Flint, Michigan in 1963. When the oldest son begins to get into a bit of trouble, the parents decide he should spend the summer and possibly the next school year with Grandma Sands in Birmingham, Alabama. The entire family travels there together by car, and during their visit, tragic events take place that affects the whole family but mainly Kenny.
Although the Watson family is fictitious, the story incorporates and centers on the historically factual 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, a critical catalyst of the American civil rights movement.
In 2013, a television film based on the book premiered on the Hallmark Channel.