We Were the Fire: Birmingham 1963

by Shelia P. Moses, Genesis Oliver (Narrator)

The powerful story of an eleven-year-old Black boy determined to stand up for his rights, who's pulled into the action of the 1963 civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama.

Rufus Jackson Jones is from Birmingham, the place Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the most segregated place in the country. A place that in 1963 is full of civil rights activists including Dr. King. The adults are trying to get more attention to their cause--to show that separate is not equal. Rufus's dad works at the local steel factory, and his mom is a cook at the mill. If they participate in marches, their bosses will fire them. So that's where the kids decide they will come in. Nobody can fire them. So on a bright May morning in 1963, Rufus and his buddies join thousands of other students to peacefully protest in a local park. There they are met with policemen and firemen who turn their powerful hoses on them, and that's where Rufus realizes that they are the fire. And they will not be put out. Shelia Moses gives readers a deeply personal account of one boy's heroism during what came to be known as the Children's Crusade in this important novel that highlights a key turning point in the civil rights movement.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Historical, Childrens, Audiobook, Fiction, Young Adult

Audiobook

Published September 6, 2022

About the author

Poet, author, playwright, and producer Shelia P. Moses was raised the ninth of ten children on Rehobeth Road in Rich Square, North Carolina. She is the co-author of Dick Gregory's memoir, Callus on My Soul, as well as the award-winning author of several books for young readers. Shelia lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reviews

[Cherlynn | cherreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

✨ "Don't you think fighting for our freedom is important? You keep talking about keeping us alive, but you never mention our freedom."

This is an insightful read about the civil rights movement in Birmingham, yet another part of history I'm not familiar with and am glad to learn more about. At first, I found the ending abrupt but the author does explain why she chose to focus on the Children's Crusade and the lead-up to the big riot instead of on the main event itself.

Told through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy, the book shares an informative account of segregation and rampant discrimination faced by Black people in the 60s. Yet we also get to see moments of hope and kindness as well as strength and resilience.

I would have preferred more depth and detail in terms of the plot, background and characters. Even though I learnt a lot from this middle-grade novel, my reading experience was just average and I wasn't always fully engaged. Younger audiences might be able to connect with it better.

✨ "We are going to make change happen, but a price will be paid."

[Madi Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I read more books like this in sixth grade but even now, I love books like this. Of course I would love to learn even more about the brave children and teens who stood up for their rights in 1963 but this was a perfect introductory story!

[Hoover Public Library Kids and Teens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read for anyone in the Greater Birmingham area (and nationwide, too).

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was good it said what it was like as black person in 1963 as a kid it was hard what people were not nice that some people was nice some not nice

it was good but some spot that was slow but not nice

[Lisa Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous. Quick and engaging read. This will be a classroom top pick.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

So very thankful for middle grades novel that depicts the civil rights movement, particularly the children’s March here, in Birmingham!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing and length makes this historical fiction account of all too real events, accessible and understandable for our 5th-8th graders.
This will be a good addition to our shelves.

[Bethany Done · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to read this out loud to my 5th graders. Such an important part of history told from the perspective of children. Loved it!

[Sara Temba · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, very impactful historical fiction about the Birmingham Children's March. While there was a long build-up through most of the book, the chapters about their decision to march and the march itself were so impactful that I was choking up while I read it out loud. It made us immediately watch some PBS documentaries about the march to see photos and videos of it happening. Highly recommend for later middle grade readers.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

“On May 2, 1963, more than one thousand students skipped classes and gathered at Sixth Street Baptist Church to march to downtown Birmingham, Alabama. As they approached police lines, hundreds were arrested and carried off to jail in paddy wagons and school buses. When hundreds more young people gathered the following day for another march, white commissioner, Bull Connor, directed the local police and fire departments to use force to halt the demonstration. Images of children being blasted by high-pressure fire hoses, being clubbed by police officers, and being attacked by police dogs appeared on television and in newspapers, and triggered outrage throughout the world. Despite the violence, children continued to march and protest in an organizing action now known as the Children’s Crusade.” (National Museum of African American History & Culture)

This is the story of one fictional child crusader and his family and friends, but it is also the story of thousands of other real children on the days from May 2-4, 1963.

Twelve-year-old Rufus Jackson Jones Jr. was born and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, “the place Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the most segregated place in the country.” (1)

His Daddy having died in an accident at the mill when he was 9 year old, Rufus lives with his Mama and his younger sister Georgia in Bull Hill. The neighborhood is run by a slumlord. “I knew [Mama] was tired of our house and all that came with it. hauling water from the well. Tired of sharing an outhouse with other families and having to pour bleach and scatter lavender into the toilet hole every day so it would not smell so bad. Tired of our wash freezing outside on the clothesline…” (28)
When Mama remarries, they are offered a house by, and next to, the white mill owner, Miss Boone. “Somebody got to be the first or second person to move into these white neighborhoods. Integration is hard, but someone got to do it. We going to be the second to move to Ivy Town,” Daddy Paul looked at us. “Do y’all know what integration means?” (22) Every day Miss Boone drives the children to their school and, despite a cross being burned on their yard, manages to keep them (and herself) protected.

Daddy Paul, Uncle Sam, and their friends begin attending meetings at night to organize a peaceful march to City Hall. “We need to change things. I want you and the other children to live in a different kind of Birmingham than the one I was raised in. A free Birmingham.” (53-54)
The children make plans to join the march in Kelly Park “We wanted our rights just like the white children. We were young, but we understood that Bull Connor was wrong. We understood that having to walk through the back doors just to get ice cream was wrong. We wanted to walk and live and get educated where we wanted. We wanted to be free.” (73) “I wanted my little sister to have a doll that looked like her. I wanted her to go to the amusement park one day.” (133)

With their teachers’ blessings, the students leave school. “When I turned around, I could see more children behind us than I could count.” (126) And, as the police load up school buses with children to take them to jail, even more arrive. “The children of Birmingham could not be stopped!” (127) Even after being jailed, clubbed, blasted with fire hoses, and bitten by police dogs, the children return to Kelly Park for a second and third days of marching and singing. When the firemen first turn on their hoses, Rufus realizes, “We were the fire!”

On May 4, safe back at home, Rufus wishes on a star, “I wished for a better world for all of us. Where we’re all treated the same.” (152)

This is a novel for all upper elementary and middle grade classrooms and could be read in ELA or Social Studies classes.

Reading this short novel reminds me of the Soweto Riots. “On 16 June 1976 between 3000 and 10 000 students mobilized by the South African Students Movement's Action Committee supported by the BCM marched peacefully to demonstrate and protest against the government’s directive. The march was meant to culminate at a rally in Orlando Stadium. On their pathway they were met by heavily armed police who fired teargas and later live ammunition on demonstrating students. This resulted in a widespread revolt that turned into an uprising against the government. While the uprising began in Soweto, it spread across the country and carried on until the following year.” (South African History Online)

In this way WE WERE THE FIRE and other middle-grade Civil Rights novels, such as THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM—1963, can be paired with Sheila Gordon’s WAITING FOR THE RAIN and Beverly Naidoo‘s novel JOURNEY TO JO'BURG and OUT OF BOUNDS, her book of short stories that take readers through the decades of Apartheid.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Things are not easy for Rufus Jones' family in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. His mother is a cook at the local steel factory, but his father is killed in an accidental at the plant. His uncle, Sam, has been to college and has one of the few management positions held by Black people, so he and his wife, Ola, who teaches high school, are able to help a bit. The family lives in a small shack in Bull Hill with few amenities, which they rent from a local white man who does little to improve the condition of his tenants. We Paul, a friend of Sam's, starts paying attention to Rufus' mother, Rufus isn't too happy, although Paul is quietly adamant about courting the mother, bringing food, always showing up, and waiting patiently on the porch until he is finally asked in. Rufus and his younger sister Georgia are a little apprehensive, since they have memories of their father, but soon see that having Paul in their life is a good thing. Rufus is aware of all of the racial tension in the South around this time, since he reads the newspapers his uncle brings him, and also Jet magazines that he gets from his teachers, and the family is torn between preserving their own safety and helping to further Civil Rights in their area. Paul decides that it would be a good step to move out of their neighborhood, but they don't have enough money to move to Sam's neighborhood, which is called "Dynamite Hill" because of the tensions caused as Black residents move in. They instead find a place in Ivy Town that is owned by the woman who owns the mill, Miss Boone.They are somewhat apprehensive, because she didn't step in to help with the insurance claim when his father died and the family has yet to recieve his settlement, but go to visit her anyway. A native of Boston, Miss Boone invites the family to enter through the front door of her house, and offers them a better home than they had their eye on, charging them $40 plus some sewing. The house has indoor plumbing and bedrooms for everyone. Some of the white residents are not happy, and a cross is burned in their yard, but it's still a step up from Bull Hill. When Civil Rights activism steps up in the summer of 1963, Rufus is glad to be involved, even if Paul and his mother want him to stay home and be safe. The adults are afraid to take place in the marches, although there are also protests like a boycott of local businesses, so the high school students start planning a children's march. Rufus leaves school to attend, and eventually is arrested and taken to the fair grounds, since the jail is full. Despite the dangers, Rufus is glad to see that the children are able to keep the Civil Rights struggle going forward and bring national attention the their cause.
Strengths: Rufus' story shows modern readers not only what the Civil Rights movement looked like, but also why it was so critically important. The details of Rufus' ordinary life, from the place he lived to the school he attends, will be unknown to many young readers who perhaps haven't been taught about this history in school. (In my state, the only US history taught before 8th grade tends to end at the Civil War.) This is set a few years before Jackson's The Lucky Ones, and shows the dire situations faced by Blacks in the South, but also showcases the resilience of Rufus' family and the successes they are able to acchieve despite the hostile environment. I appreciated that Miss Boone was shown in a favorable light, even though there probably weren't as many helpful white people at the time as there should have been. It's the perfect length, at 176 pages, and is written in a particularly clear yet fast paced way. The inclusion of historical figures and events is seamlessly done, and the story was as enjoyable to read as it was educational.
Weaknesses: Our 8th grade is slowly transitioning from a major Holocaust unit (20 years ago, the 8th grade curriculum included World War II, and the Holocause unit in language arts was a vestige of this) to a Civil Rights one, and while the information about the children's march is excellent, the book seems a bit young for 8th grade. It is perfect for elementary schools, though, and will work well for individual reading at the middle school level.
What I really think: Pair this with Levinson's We've Got a Job for a fuller picture of the children's involvement, or with the aforementioned The Lucky Ones to compare and contrast the progress that the Civil Rights movement made in the 1960s. For so long, books about the South in the 1960s focused on white female main characters (think The Help), so it is great to finally see a different perspective of this important historical era.

[Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reminds me of The Watson’s Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis. Both of these books focus on the tensions of 1963 and the battle between African Americans and white supremacists during that time. The difference between these two books, however, is very striking, and which one you prefer depends more on the type of person you are rather than any faults with the book.

Curtis’ book tends to get the family dynamic right. He simply knows how siblings act and how they can fool around, creating some very humorous situations that offset the end of the novel where the 16th Street Baptist Church is bombed.

Moses’ book takes a slightly different approach, focusing not on the church bombing, but on the protests overall that took place that year. She works to show how brave men and women fought for their right to be treated just like everyone else. As well as the complicated feelings that black men and women had at sending their children to march on the protests. It was truly a harrowing book to read.

Yet, We Were The Fire does have some issues. One of which was that I felt like the family dynamic was not as strong as it could be, at least, compared to something that Curtis could write. A second issue is the narrator. I liked him, but I could not help but think that a person like Lavar Burton could have done a better job.


So this book was a nice quick read, but not something that can rise above the competitors in the genre. I give it a two out of five.

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children are the main characters and made a difference. The tone is upbeat even if realistic and conditions aren't always fair or ideal there is a lot of life hardship, but it never feels too much of a downer. The family relationship is tight, the friendships are solid and there are allies in the community too. I thought it was pretty cool to focus on a widow who ran a big business and had some influence in town.
I like how events are put into perspective as to the importance and the why of it. I like that there were distinctions like consequences for disobeying parents, but not just for participating.
I like the means of organization and the visual of waves of marchers that just kept coming.
The description of jail setting and food was a specific snippet that stuck with me about having a real life situation that is serious, but it's what you do with the experience (cold pork and beans and a cracker can be delicious if that's the only way to make it through).
Take away .25 of a point for the use of excessive "husband", "sister", "wife" which got tedious for me.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's quick and very specific, focused on a family and their walk in Birmingham in 1963, a fateful and historical time that was just as much about the march as it was about the build-up. The family itself was wonderfully three-dimensional however I took issue with the sheer amount of names/people that were discussed around the family. It was disorienting to try to place and understand the relationships and connections between the additional people and the family. It demonstrates the interconnectedness of it all and how reliant everyone was to build the grassroots effort to fight back, however with the short novel, the sheer number of additional people became a monumental distraction.

But I can see how this would be a quicker, valuable classroom read on the topic as a historical fiction introduction.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest I know more about Selma than I do the Birmingham march. I also did not realize that involvement of school age children. I do know horrible things happened at all the marches, and this book does bring up the dogs biting children. Moses does a great job of connecting with her audience though the characters - all the characters.

How did this book find me? I was looking at the William Allen White list of current award winners. These books are voted on by the students in the age group and not adults such as librarians and teachers. I like to keep up on what the youth, our future, are reading. With books like We Were the Fire it gives me hope.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the Children’s March in Birmingham told through the eyes of Rufus, a young black child who lives with his sister, mother, and stepfather. They are the first to integrate an all-white neighborhood, sponsored by the kind white woman who owns the house they rent. They face lots of prejudice and near violence, but they support each other through it all. A solid middle grade read which will transport listeners to that tumultuous time period with honesty. Received from libro.fm in exchange for an honest review.

[Bennett Fresh · Rating 4 out of 5]

We meet the main character Rufus he lives with his mom , sister, and dad until his father dies and his mother remarried to his stepdad Paul they then move to a house that the steel mills that the parents work at boss owns so the mom can make dresses for the boss while all of this is happening protests are being organized against segregation. Rufus and his friends wanted to help they and other kids from school protest at the park marching, and the police arrested them. Rufus and his family then decided to move north.

[Maggie Vallette · Rating 4 out of 5]

WAS 24-25, grades 6-8. This was a great historical fiction novel about events that I was never familiar with. The story follows Rufus and his family living in a segregated Birmingham, AL. They are conspiring to march and bring an end to the racist ideologies of their city. But it isn’t until the children decide to join forces and take a stand that people start to take notice. A quick read, that includes events that kids may find interesting to learn more about as more history of the Civil Rights movement is coming to light.

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book on the Civil Rights Movement/Birmingham 1963 for younger kids! Also loved that it centered on the children's march/crusade. Quick and engaging read and although its historical fiction, it was so realistic. Especially if you're like me - a Birmingham native or had family that marched during the that time. Definitely a wonderful read to introduce and talk with children about the Civil Rights Movement.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Moses did a brilliant job with this book. Through this narrative, Moses illustrates the inequities inherent in the everyday lives of these characters (and the real people they're based upon.) The simplicity of the narrative brings the misdeeds of Bull Conner and those who supported him into stark relief. It also has resonance with current events which brings even more staying power to this narrative.

[Raynbow Corleone · Rating 5 out of 5]

“That’s right! The children of Birmingham are our heroes. And you better believe that.” -DJ Shelly

This is the story of a brave young boy who took a stand on injustice. The struggle for colored folks in Birmingham during the 1960s was intense. Know your history and understand what happened and what took place for you/us c to be where we are today. I deeply enjoyed this story. I definitely recommend.

[Book Nerds In MN · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars for this excellent middle grade novel.
Loved this historical story told from the POV of an11 year old black boy, Rufus, living in Birmingham at the height of the Civil Rights movement. This should be a must have for all middle grade libraries and history units for 5-8th grade. These children were incredibly brave,and risked their lives for freedom of the oppressed.

[Kendra Van Zile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story for giving middle and upper elementary kids (Gr. 4-5) a first person perspective of the Civil Rights Movement, but too juvenile for my middle school library. Excellent historical context. Characterization is typical of books for young readers - fine, but not a lot of depth. Overall a solid read and recommended for Grades 4-5 students and teachers.

[Maureen Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I thought I knew all about the civil rights movement, I read this book and realized I was so wrong. Written for young readers, We Were the Fire simply tells the story of the power of determination and courage. A must read for anyone interested in learning true American history. You are never too old or too young to be the change you want to see in the world!

[Maebe Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because my daughter is reading it for her 7th grade language arts class and she has a big test and i wanted to be able to help her study. I am pleased that my daughter is exposed to the hard truths of our american history. This was a mild telling but we have to start somewhere with the kids.

[Elise Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wholesome middle grades historical fiction novel. The narrator is a brave young boy who joins the nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960s. Several historical figures are mentioned along with instances of racism and discrimination. I would offer this as a literature circle book choice for middle school students.

[Kayla Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a short read or maybe it was because I couldn’t stop reading it! I had no idea children were marching in the civil right protests. These kinds of stories always make me so made that certian white people acted like this towards others who had different skin color then them. I would give this a 5 star rating! Also this is an2024-2025 William Allen White Book. It’s a must read!

[Michelle Blackmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love historical fiction especially when I learn something new. I did not know about the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham so after finishing the book I got online and learned as much as I could about this important historical event. The children were so incredibly brave, I couldn’t put it down. I will recommend to my friend that’s a librarian at a middle school.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the some of the events of the Civil Rights Movement. Appropriate for upper elementary - middle school students. The book is short and the focus is on the children, so I think it will appeal to many.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a moving story. In this front-row view of the Children's Crusade, we see 11-year-old Rufus, his friends, and his family deciding to stand and march against segregation, injustice, and racism. Honest, heartbreaking, and an important story for young people today to read.