May We Move Forward

This day in 1963, a bomb ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and killed four young girls and injured more church members. It propelled the Civil Rights Movement forward to honor the lives lost that day. Our city had made great strides since that awful day, but we and our nation have a long way to go to erase racial prejudice in this country. May those lives lost be not in vain.

This sculpture, The Four Spirits, exquisitely created by Birmingham sculptor Elizabeth MacQueen is placed just across from the church in Kelly Ingram Park.

For more information, from people here in Birmingham who lived during this time in 1963, I urge you to visit, Kids in Birmingham in 1963. a site where many of us here in Birmingham, share our stories. 

Sunday Church Series - 16th Street Baptist Church

Established in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church, it was the first black church in the city of Birmingham. On September 15, 1963, a bomb ripped through the church killing four young girls - Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson and injuring 20 church members. This senseless killing, aimed to slow down the civil rights movement in Birmingham served to propel the movement forward.

What Are They Creating???

You will have to come back tomorrow to find out!