*****Please NOTE*****
There is a PDF of the novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963, at the bottom of this site.
Music of the 1960's and Berry Gordy
Research Website
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Gi-He/Gordy-Jr-Berry.html
Using Google as a search engine, look up each of the following 1960’s musical groups/artists and fill in the rest of the table. Wikipedia is a good source for this assignment and offers information in a text box that will be helpful.
1. From what city did the majority of these groups/artists originate? _____________________________
2. Under what record label did the majority of these groups/artists record? _________________________
Use the research link above to answer to the following questions:
3. Who started this label? _____________________________________
4. In what year was the label started? ______________
5. Of what ethnicity were the groups/artists who recorded on this label? _____________________________________
6. From what city & state is the founder? ________________________________
7. What is his ethnicity? _______________________________
8. On what assembly line did he work before starting his record label? ________________________________________
9. What did he do in order to overcome the monotony of assembly line work? __________________________________
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10. He took a personal interest in his performers and taught them how to act like ________________________________.
11. What was the label’s first big hit in 1960? _________________________________
12. How many #1 hit songs did the label have? ____________
13. Fill in the missing word from each song title below:
a. “Please Mr. ______________________”
b. “My ________________”
c. “Stop! In the Name of _____________”
d. “Heard It Through the __________________________”
e. “Dancing in the _____________________”
Figurative Language Devices
Allusion: the mention of a well known person, place, thing, event, movie
(The movie “Shrek” has many allusions.)
Idiom: an expression that has meaning specific to a region or culture
(I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.)
Onomatopoeia: the use of words that imitate sounds
(Crash, POW, hiss, snap)
Hyperbole: using words that exaggerate or overstate something
(I sneezed a million times.)
Metaphor: a comparison of things without using the words like or as
(He is the cold wind blowing through town.)
Simile: a comparison of things using the words like or as in the phrase
(She is clever as a fox.)
Imagery: visually descriptive wording in a literary work
(He was wearing rumpled, yellow pants.)
The Watsons Go to Birmingham Vocabulary
Character Analysis
The Watsons travel from Flint, Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama
The family is traveling by car from home in Flint to take Byron to Grandma Sands' house in Birmingham. Use the following websites to gather information about the route they traveled on their way from Michigan to Alabama.
Discover Flint, Michigan at: http://www.cityofflint.com/About_Flint/quickFACTS.asp
1. How far is Flint from Detroit, Michigan? _______________________________________________________________
2. What did Flint contribute to the effort in World War II? __________________________________________________
3. What is the present population of Flint? ______________________________________________________________
Leaving Michigan at: http://geology.com/cities-map/michigan.shtml
1. What area of the state do you find Flint (North, South, East, West)? ________________________________________
2. Name 2 other large cities in the state. ________________________________________________________________
3. Name 2 major highways or interstates in Michigan. _____________________________________________________
On the road from Michigan to Alabama: http://www.mapquest.com (Click on the BLUE "Directions")
You will have to type Flint, Michigan in Start, and Birmingham, Alabama in End. Choose I-75 to I-59 option (The third choice).
1. What is the total mileage from Michigan to Alabama? ____________________________________________________
2. How long will the trip take? _________________________________________________________________________
Facts about Interstate 75: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_75
1. Name the states that I-75 goes through. __________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. On what date did builders complete I-75 from Sault Ste. Marie to Tampa, Florida? _____________________________
3. What is the total length of I-75 in miles? _______________________________________________________________
State Facts: http://www.census.gov/schools/facts/ Click on each state they traveled through to get information. Write one fact about each state the Watson family went through on their trip to Alabama.
Ohio ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Kentucky
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Tennessee
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