
We Were the Fire
Birmingham 1963
Shelia P. Moses(Author)
Bantam Books (Publisher)
Published on 9. January 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-0-593-40750-9 (ISBN)
Description
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 steel factory, and his mom is a cook at the mill, and 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.
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 steel factory, and his mom is a cook at the mill, and 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.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Random House USA Inc
Target group
Children/juvenile
US School Grade: Fifth Grade and over, Interest Age: From 10 years
Product notice
Paperback (digest)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
180 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-593-40750-9 (9780593407509)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2022
Nancy Paulsen Books
€8.49
Available for download
Person
Shelia P. Moses (mosesbooksandpublishing.com) is an African American writer whose subjects include comedian Dick Gregory and the Legend of Buddy Bush. In 2004, she was nominated for the National Book Award and named the Coretta Scott King Honoree for The Legend of Buddy Bush. In 2009, her novel Joseph's Grace was nominated for the NAACP Image Award.