On September 15th, 1963, a bomb planted by white supremacists ripped through Sixteenth Street Baptist Church killing #FourLittleGirls – Addie Mae Collins (14 years-old), Cynthia Wesley (14 years-old), Carole Robertson (14 years-old) and Denise McNair (11 years-old) – and injuring several others. The tragedy marked the third bombing in eleven days in Birmingham, Alabama.
In the 1960’s, Birmingham was one of the most racially segregated cities in the country. State and local politics were dominated by the Ku Klux Klan, the city police commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor, who promoted violence against black communities and the Governor George Wallace, who was a staunch segregationist. These factors combined to heighten anti-black sentiment and create a particularly dangerous environment for African Americans. Racially motivated attacks on black homes and churches grew so common that the city was referred to as “Bombingham.”
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Photo: From left, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Cynthia Wesley. (AP)
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