After a year of college, Christopher Paul Curtis took a job at the Fisher Auto Body plant in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. He and a co-worker decided to arrange their assembly line work hanging heavy doors on Buicks so that each hour of an eight-hour shift was 30 minutes on duty and 30 minutes off. This schedule allowed Curtis stretches of time to devote to his growing interest in writing. He practiced by writing letters and character sketches. Eventually his wife suggested he try writing full time; his first novel was The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963.

The original version of the story was actually The Watsons Go to Florida, inspired by a family road trip to the Sunshine State with his wife and children. Though his wife had the trip planned in minute detail (like Momma does in The Watsons), Curtis favored a drive without any overnight stops (like Dad). On the drive, he began to imagine a family and the story of their road trip. Later, he was inspired to change the Watsons’ destination when his son studied Dudley Randall’s “The Ballad of Birmingham,” a poem about the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing.

Curtis acknowledges in interviews and author’s notes that his family members from childhood often inspire his characters.