Theme: Violent Reactions are not the answer to adversity; a peaceful response, though difficult, ...
Mind map of the main ideas, themes, and supporting details of "Freedom's Children" by Ellen Levine excerpt from James Roberson
1. Main Idea: The community reacts with outrage and intent for violence
1.1. "[People} had sawed-off shotguns and pistols. Any white man who had gone through there probably would've been hurt."
1.1.1. Thoughts: This sounds a lot like other bombings I've heard about from the Civil Rights movement where blacks retaliated
1.2. "...people gathered with guns and hostility"
2. Main Idea: The Reverend urges the community to act without violence
2.1. "You all get him home. He's got a gun. We're not going to be violent. We don't want that"
2.1.1. Thoughts: It's ironic that the Rev. is the one acting the most peaceful and calm because he was the one who was almost killed. He has the most justification to act angrily.
2.2. "In the middle of the house leaning over, the sparkling electric wires, the police on their way, people gathered with guns and hostility, he gave a sermon"
2.2.1. This part seems to be the most shocking to the narrator-- he expects (like everyone else) to have the Rev. be angry and is equally surprised and deeply affected by his reaction.
3. Main Idea: The church was severely bombed
3.1. "The explosion was so powerful, I thought the world was coming to an end. The Vibration was enormous--if you can imagine fifty times as much thunder as you normally hear"
4. Main Idea:Rev. Shuttlesworth could have been killed. His survival is miraculous
4.1. "A rafter, one of those big ones, went right through the bed...If he had been in that bed when the beam came through he would have been [dead]"
4.1.1. Personal Thoughts: It seems like a big deal tot he narrator that the reverend wasn't killed. He reiterates that fact with a lot of description and shock.
4.2. "He did not have a mark on his body, not a drop of blood. That Dynamite had blown windows out a mile or more away, but he had no deafness from the sound"
4.2.1. "Eighteen sticks of dynamite went off within three feet of the man's head. He's not deaf, he's not blind, he's not cripples, he's not bleeding."