The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA

Written by Brenda Woods, The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA (2019) is a middle grade historical fiction novel set in 1946 South Carolina. The story uses the perspective of a white 12-year-old boy named Gabriel to critique “nice town” Jim Crow laws, filtering these social issues through the lens of the boy’s friendship with Meriwether, a Black World War II veteran. Woods draws inspiration from the true story of the all-Black 761st Tank Battalion. The novel was named a CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young Readers and explores several weighty themes, including The Erasure of Black Contributions Versus the Fight for Recognition, The Power of Mentorship and Intergenerational Friendship, and Exercising Privilege Responsibly.

This guide refers to the e-book edition published by Penguin Random House in 2019.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, graphic violence, racism, religious discrimination, and animal death.

Language Note: The source material uses offensive terms such as “colored.” Woods uses these terms to critique racism in the Jim Crow South, and this guide reproduces this language only in quotations; elsewhere, the guide uses the term “Black.”

Plot Summary

In the summer of 1946, a white boy named Gabriel Haberlin lives in a town called Birdsong near Charleston, South Carolina. Birdsong is a small but peaceful place with a post office, a market, a soda fountain, a movie theater, and two gas stations. Gabriel’s father owns the town’s only automobile repair garage, which is attached to one of the gas stations.

On Gabriel’s 12th birthday, his parents give him a bicycle. While riding his present down Main Street, he becomes distracted and runs a red light. He is nearly hit by a car, but a Black man named Meriwether Hunter pushes him out of the vehicle’s path. Meriwether repairs the bike for free, and Gabriel thanks him for all his help. Betty Babcock, who was driving the car, orders Meriwether to put the bike in her vehicle and drives Gabriel home. When Betty tells Gabriel’s parents, Jake and Agatha Haberlin, that her quick reflexes saved their son’s life, Gabriel speaks up and says that he’s alive because of Meriwether.

The Haberlins’ relatives drive from Charleston to celebrate Gabriel’s birthday. Auntie Rita tells Gabriel that he is destined for greatness and that he now shares a special bond with his rescuer. Gabriel suggests that his father hire Meriwether to replace a mechanic who recently quit, and Jake agrees.

The next morning, Gabriel and his best friend, Patrick, go to Meriwether’s home on the majority-Black side of town so that Gabriel can tell him about the job offer. Meriwether introduces the boys to his wife, Phoebe, and his 10-year-old daughter, Abigail. Feeling cautiously optimistic, Meriwether agrees to go to Jake’s garage with Gabriel and speak to the boy’s father about the job.

When Meriwether arrives at the shop, Lucas Shaw, a mechanic who works for Jake, spits on Meriwether’s shoes and tries to provoke him into a fight. Jake rebukes Lucas and sends him back to work. The incident makes Jake nervous about hiring Meriwether, but Gabriel pleads on his rescuer’s behalf. Jake assigns Meriwether a shift that begins after Lucas’s ends and urges him to avoid the mechanic because Lucas has friends in the racist and violent organization called the Ku Klux Klan.

A few days later, Gabriel decides to start helping around the shop so that he can spend more time with Meriwether and lower the odds of Lucas causing problems for the man. During Gabriel’s first day at the garage, Meriwether teaches him the value of looking at the world from other people’s perspectives, which the man compares to having multiple sets of eyes.

On Saturday, the Haberlins drive to Charleston for a parade honoring World War II veterans, including Jake’s brother, Earl. Uncle Earl is a decorated fighter pilot, and Gabriel listens proudly as his uncle recounts his experiences in the Battle of the Bulge. During a party for Earl, Gabriel meets Johnnie Dove Victory, a Black woman who works for his relatives. She tells him about her son, Homer, who served in the Navy during World War II and was killed in action. Mrs. Victory grieves that Homer’s body was never recovered, and she thanks Gabriel for listening to her.

On the Monday after the parade, Meriwether arrives for his shift on foot because someone stole his bicycle on Saturday. Meriwether and Gabriel suspect that the culprit is Lucas, but Jake urges them not to voice their suspicions to anyone. When Meriwether asks to buy a black 1936 Chevy sitting in the garage’s lot, Jake is taken aback because no one can get it to start. He promises to give Meriwether the car for free if Meriwether can fix it. Later that day, Gabriel tells Meriwether about the parade in Charleston and his uncle’s stories, and Meriwether accidentally reveals that he also fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He swears Gabriel to secrecy because he promised Phoebe that he wouldn’t discuss his service around white people. He then tells the boy about his time in the all-Black United States Army’s 761st Tank Battalion.

The next day, Gabriel sees Lucas talking to Abigail and warns her to avoid the racist man. Abigail explains that Meriwether doesn’t tell white people about his service because Black veterans have been maimed or lynched by white people who don’t want to accept that Black people are equal to them. Later that afternoon, Gabriel hears Meriwether shouting and fears that Lucas has caused trouble. However, when the boy rushes to the garage, he sees that Meriwether is whooping in joy because he has gotten the Chevy’s engine to start.

The following day, Meriwether shows Gabriel a photograph of him and some other members of the 761st Battalion. Two of the men died in battle, and one was seriously wounded. Meriwether’s fellow tank driver now works in Michigan and can secure him a position at the Ford automobile plant, but he doesn’t want to make his wife leave her job at the church. Later, when Meriwether misplaces the photograph in the garage, Lucas finds it. The prejudiced man places the picture and a rattlesnake in a box and puts it on the Hunters’ porch. Abigail is almost killed when she opens the box, but Meriwether kills the snake before it can harm her. While Phoebe and Abigail take shelter in their local church, Meriwether hurries to the Haberlins and tells them what happened. Jake and Agatha plead with him not to take the law into his own hands, and Jake embraces Meriwether, who weeps.

The next morning, Sheriff Monk comes to the Haberlins’ home and asks them if they know who put the snake on the Hunters’ porch. Jake declines to voice his suspicions. When Jake and Gabriel check on the Hunters on their way to the garage, Phoebe and Abigail are packing because they have decided to join Meriwether’s Army friend in Michigan. Meriwether left shortly before the Haberlins’ arrival at his family’s door, and Phoebe and Abigail now fear that he has gone to confront Lucas.

Jake and Gabriel race to the garage, where they see that Meriwether has Lucas cornered and is threatening him with a metal pipe. When Lucas provokes Meriwether by saying that he wishes Abigail had died, Gabriel lunges at Meriwether and makes him drop the pipe. Suddenly, Lucas cries out in pain, clutches his chest, and dies.

Meriwether thanks Gabriel for preventing him from killing Lucas. The boy hopes that now that Lucas has died, the Hunters won’t have to move, but Meriwether explains that he and his family must look beyond Birdsong in their search for acceptance. Jake encourages Meriwether to leave the garage before word of Lucas’s death spreads.

The town doctor examines the body and reveals that Lucas had a congenital heart condition, expressing his surprise that the man lived as long as he did. The town’s sheriff is agitated and asks about Meriwether’s whereabouts before eventually accepting the doctor’s statement.

That night, the Haberlins and Hunters say their goodbyes, and Meriwether and Gabriel thank each other for the ways in which they’ve saved one another. As the boy watches his friend drive away, he remembers Meriwether’s wisdom about seeing the world through other people’s eyes and smiles through his tears.