#FourLittleGirls

[trascapades]

🕊🕯#ArtIsAWeapon

#NeverForget #Cynthia Wesley #CaroleRobertson #AddieMaeCollins (all 14 years old), and 11-year-old #DeniseMcNair - The four girls murdered in the #16thStreetBaptistChurchBombing 60 years ago today (Sept. 15, 1963) in Birmingham, Alabama. The heinous act of white supremacist domestic terrorism was carried out soon after the 1963 #MarchonWashington for Jobs and Freedom (Aug. 28, 1963.)

#SarahCollinsRudolph was severely injured in the bombing and two Black boys were murdered that same day in Birmingham: 16-year-old #JohnnyRobinson and 13-year-old #VirgilWare.

Image 1: Quilt by artist Sylvia Hernandez’s @quiltgirl61 #4littlegirls #16stbaptistchurch

Video and caption reposted from @nmaahc #OnThisDay in 1963, a bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Alabama, killing 4 little girls—11-year-old Carol Denise McNair, and 14-year-olds Carole Robertson, Cynthia Diane Wesley and Addie Mae Collins—and injuring several others.

This atrocity marked the third bombing in 11 days in Birmingham, Alabama, following the federal court order integrating Alabama schools. Shards from the church's stained-glass window are on display in our exhibition "Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation" as a reminder of this tragic incident.

Racially motivated attacks on Black people, their homes and their churches grew so common that the city was referred to as “Bombingham.” African American civil rights activists made Birmingham a focal point of their desegregation campaign.

Follow the link in our bio to learn more. #APeoplesJourney

📸 1.2.3.4. Courtesy of Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 5. Stained glass rosette shard from the 16th Street Baptist Church. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Family of Rev. Norman C. "Jim" Jimerson and Melva Brooks Jimerson 6. The damaged interior of the church is shown in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Courtesy of Tom Self/Birmingham News, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#Bombingham #ThisIsAmerica

[readyforevolution]

61 years ago today, Black children were bombed and murdered while inside Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church.

We remember #AddieMaeCollins #CaroleRobertson #CarolDeniseMcNair #CynthiaWesley

Still, racism and domestic terrorism persist.

#FourLittleGirls #NeverForget

[expressivequeen]

FOUR FIVE LITTLE GIRLS 👧🏽👧🏽👧🏽👧🏽 👧🏽

With February being Black History Month I have been thinking about who and how to pay homage to an important figure involved in our history. I had a difficult time picking my “favorite” or “most important” event or person, so I decided to choose multiple people from one very tragic event in African American History. While in Birmingham, Alabama on a 10 day Civil Rights trip in the south I had the honor of visiting the church. It was a sacred stop on our trip and while inside emotions and the realization of what happened overwhelmed me in a way I will never forget.

Each day this week I will be doing an individual tribute to five young girls that were injured or killed during the fight for Civil Rights during a bombing. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and a “5th Little Girl”, Sarah Collins (older sister of Addie Mae Collins). The drawing below includes all five girls including Sarah who lost her eye in the bombing.

In Birmingham, Alabama (nicknamed Bombingham during this time) in the 60s bombings could be compared to shootings of the present day. KKK members and racist whites retaliated against the victories of African Americans as we proudly fought for equal rights. With the newly integrated school system in Alabama (1954) racist whites were unhappy. Think about that... People were unhappy that all children of different colors, backgrounds and ancestors were now able to get the same education, (like we can control how we are born and as if we are any different or less important because of the color of our skin). As a result of these angry racists, violent and tragic acts were being committed against black communities and the people in it including both homes and businesses.

Sunday morning, September 15, 1963 at least 4 members of the KKK were plotting once again to cause chaos, hurt, and pain to African American members of a church and community in a devastating way. It was youth Sunday at 16th Street Baptist Church. This was the largest black church in Birmingham and the meeting site that important people like Martin Luther King Jr. would gather because of its large structure and capacity to hold many people. On this particular Sunday, inside the church members had no idea what the scene that their church would soon be a part of.

Picture this... You are 14 years old. You have dreams, hobbies, a family, goals, and plans for the day and so much further. It’s Sunday and you are in your church’s basement ladies’ room fixing hair, dresses, happy, feeling safe in church while preparing to go sing songs of praise to God, with other young girls some of whom prepare to serve as ushers to welcome in family and other church members to service. At the same time, hateful people will soon set a bomb off and take your precious, innocent, hopeful dreams, plans, and life in their hands. It was such a tragedy that riots were followed by the event. The same day two young African American boys were both shot and killed regarding the same circumstances (Virgil Ware, 13 and Johnny Robinson, 16).

This week I want the names of 5 young girls to be remembered, mourned, as well as celebrated as we recount what our Black History means. The significance of our history and how important it is to remember what the deaths, injuries, pain, and struggle was like not very long ago. We literally were and still are fighting for the same rights as anyone else living in America. The tragedies and hatred we have been shown in America just for our Civil Rights puts a totally different light and perspective on the mindset of people filled with anger. We have come a long way in the fight for Civil Rights and I would say still have a ways to go. It’s so sad that so many people had to loose their lives for our freedom and right to live but this is why we celebrate them and never forget them.

[davidsincere]

🚨🚨🚨New works in the workings!!! Recording for a movie soundtrack💯💯💪🏾 Stay tuned.. for now enjoy the process!!! @davidsinceremusic @reform_live @omar_edwards7 @kerri.edge #FreedomRing Engineer - Cus Filmed by - @90210videoproductions #reformlive #davidsinceremusic #likeforlikes #like4likes #followforfollowback #follow4followback #newmusic #newartist #4lg #fourlittlegirls #dancefilm #movie #moviesoundtrack #songwriter #studiosession (like and leave a comment) (at Mercy Sound Recording Studios NYC) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9PLztCg024/?igshid=zct4kupvkzkx

[centerednscholared]

Sunday September 15th 1963 We'll never forget. #fourlittlegirls #birminghamalabama #civilrightsmovement #dynamitehill #jimcrow https://www.instagram.com/p/B2bwj4Pju9d/?igshid=kni9qmz3e53i

[nmaahc]

Ten Shards of Stained Glass

Photo: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Trumpauer-Mulholland Collection.

Just two weeks after the March On Washington, on September 15, 1963, white supremacists planted a bomb under the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The explosion killed four young girls attending Sunday school. 

This terrorist act was a brutal reminder that the success of the march and the changes it represented would not go unchallenged. In the face of such violence, the determination to continue organizing intensified. These glass shards are from the church's stained-glass window.

[peachy-queen]

May God have mercy on his dark soul. #fourlittlegirls #birminghambombing1963 #kkkterrorists https://www.instagram.com/p/CB7ByT2jNfxjG-ODmrh0HkTDxGnHy3yl57fLnE0/?igshid=5vw2y7v1ak94

[diallokenyatta]

Robert 'Dynamite Bob' Chambliss: KKK Terrorist that bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing #FourLittleGirls & injuring 20 others, he also bombed homes of NAACP Members & Black Activist throughout Birmingham. #Yurugu👿 #NeverForget (at Birmingham, Alabama)

[soul-junkee]

Please never forget what happened on this day in Birmingham Alabama at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 1963. #fourlittlegirls (at Nashville, Tennessee)

[deniserenee24]

Four Little Girls were lost September 15, 1963. 👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼 Their memory lives on and they were at the safest place you can be, doing the best thing you can do, worshipping.🙏🏼 #FourLittleGirls #CivilRightsMovement #NeverBeForgotten https://www.instagram.com/p/B2cn_HfFki4BYIkYz9oJVHQnjLnEqlQP1vqwAg0/?igshid=1vz65co3fzliu

[lissa232]

#inmemory #4littlegirls #rememberingseptember151963 #fourlittlegirls #september151963 #september151963neverforget #september151963birminghamalabama #wehavecomealongway #wehavecomesofar #wemustnotgiveupthefight #prayerisourweaponofchoice #prayforloveandhumanity #prayforloveandpeace #prayforthefamiliesaffected https://www.instagram.com/p/B2cm9Gpl8WD/?igshid=1lcp9eyvdpcy1

[expressivequeen]

FOUR FIVE LITTLE GIRLS

Carole Denise McNair (Nov. 17,1951- Sept. 15, 1963)

Born the oldest child to parents Chris and Maxine McNair, Denise McNair was the youngest of the 4 young girls murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. I want to touch on the family of Denise McNair a little more. At the time of the bombing her father, Chris McNair, who was a milkman and a photographer, was a member of a Lutheran Church across town and thought the sound of the bomb was only thunder. He met with his wife and others at the hospital where the injured and dead were taken and identified his daughter by her shoe even before seeing her body. Her father as I stated was a photographer and his photos were often used to show the lives of African Americans in Birmingham and even have been published in Jet Magazine. Chris McNair was involved in politics in Alabama and was rarely known to speak about his youngest daughter later explaining that he was angry and also didn’t want anyone to think he was using Denise to “move up the line”.

Mr. McNair was convicted and prosecuted in 2006 for conspiracy and bribery, in which he plead guilty to the charges. He spoke about how quickly he was convicted for the charges and how long it took for justice to be brought in his daughter’s horrible murder (38 years). Chris McNair passed on May 8, 2019 from cancer.

Denise McNair had two younger sisters Lisa McNair and Kimberly Brock. Both girls were not born yet when the bombing took place. I met Lisa McNair and Denise’s mother Maxine McNair in 2011. They told the story of their beloved Denise so proudly but the pain could still be seen and felt in their words and tone. Myself along with about 1,000 other high school students met at the family’s studio that had been moved and turned into a memorial for Denise. It held photographs of her and also some of her personal items like toys and books. One significant item was the pair of shoes that she had worn on the day of the bombing.

As the youngest of the 4 girls found in the rubble, Denise McNair’s mother approached her father (Denise’s grandfather) exclaiming that she could not find her. In turn, he replied “She’s dead, baby. I’ve got one of her shoes.” This moment was significant because a reporter captured how Maxine held her daughter’s shoe and the pain, anger, and sadness she felt that trickled down to everyone who saw or heard of this particular moment.

Denise McNair should be celebrated as a vibrant, intelligent, and loved “civil rights martyr”. She attended Center Street Elementary School. She was friends with the now former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who was 8 years old at the time of the bombing. Denise was a member of the choir at 16th Street Baptist Church and lived a comfortable life partaking in piano and dance lessons in her short life. She loved her dog and had a favorite doll which just happened to be a white doll.

To Denise McNair: I am so sorry that the world you were subjected to was filled with so much hatred that it took you away without understanding and appreciating who you truly were and the potential you had for the world. In a sad and crazy way you paved the way for African Americans to reach the level of success, dignity, and freedom we have in 2020 and beyond and you should be proud. At only 11 years old your life was sacrificed but in turn created a transformation that trickled down for generations to come. We love you Denise McNair ❤️

[ea7160]

May they continue to Rest In Peace! #FourLittleGirls 👑🙏🏽

[centerednscholared]

#blackhistory365 #birminghamalabama #virgilware #johnnyrobinson #fourlittlegirls #civilrightsmovement https://www.instagram.com/p/B2bvkN3D2ZZ/?igshid=lfvma979oal1

[ronnydevylder]

Selma, @newyorkermag @awolerizku @firstworldgypsy @mdanielmakeup #mel #makeup #fourlittlegirls #selma #movie #photography #awolerizku #instamovie #instabackdrop #instamood #instacostumes #afroamerican #instaracism #instaprave #instavisusl #visualidentity #truestory #i🖤love https://www.instagram.com/p/BsL09Lzgenk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qs2yp9w8ijkq

[angelasl813]

Yesterday visting this church and the memorial was a reminder that there is still work to be done to ensure that all of God's children are treated with dignity and respect from birth to natural death. #civilrights #fourlittlegirls #neverforget #birminghamalabama #ushistory #blackhistory (at 16th Street Baptist Church)