Image: The “Four Spirits” sculpture: a memorial to the four little girls who died in the 16th Street Church bombing in 1963: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carolyn Robertson & Cynthia Wesley. Sculpture by Elizabeth MacQueen.

For resources on the Birmingham Movement, click here.

Resources

The 16^th Street Baptist Church website.

Birmingham Public Library: Online digital collection of photos and news clippings about the bombing.

Speak Lisa: the website of Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair, who was killed in the bombing.  

Documentaries

Angels of Change.

The History Channel: Remembering the Birmingham Church Bombing.

Spike Lee: Four Little Girls.

Books

Christopher M. Hamlin: Behind the Stained Glass: A History of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

Doug Jones: Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights.

Carolyn McKinstry (with Denise George): While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement.

Lisa McNair: Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew.

Diane McWhorter: Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution.

Tracy Snipe (With Sarah Collins Rudolph): The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing.

T. K. Thorne: Last Chance for Justice: How Relentless Investigators Uncovered New Evidence Convicting the Birmingham Church Bombers.

Articles

Char Adams: The two forgotten Black boys who died the day of the Birmingham church bombing: Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware were killed in the aftermath of the Birmingham church bombing in 1963.

Charles M. Blow: What Does America Owe the Victims of Racial Terrorism?

Joseph D. Bryant: A national salute: Congressional Gold Medal awarded as honor to ‘four little girls,’ families.

Andrew Cohen: The Speech That Shocked Birmingham the Day After the Church Bombing: Appalled by the murder of four little girls, a white Alabaman spoke out against racism—and was forever shunned for it.

CRMvet.org: The Birmingham Church Bombing.

DeNeen L. Brown: 60 years ago, Alabama church bombing killed 4 girls and catalyzed a movement.

Alan Collins: ‘Four Spirits’ sculpture unveiled to the public.

Neil Genzlinger: Thomas Blanton, Who Bombed a Birmingham Church, Dies at 82: He was the last survivor of three Klansmen who were convicted, years later, in the killing four black girls in 1963, a case that was a turning point in the civil rights struggle.

Virginia Martin: Chris McNair, Former Local Official and Father of One of the ‘4 Little Girls,’ Dies at 93.

Diane McWhorter:

• Civil Rights Justice on the Cheap.
• The Stark Reminders of the Birmingham Church Bombing: Upon the 60th anniversary of the tragic attack, these stained glass shards recall the day that saw four girls killed in Alabama.

J.R. Moehringer: A Child Lost to Racial Hate Lost Again in Birmingham.

Kara Nelson: 60 years after 4 little girls were killed in a KKK attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church, memories of the lives that were taken live on.

Brian Pia: Missing remains of 1963 church bombing victim believed to be found.

Matt Schudel: John Cross Jr., Pastor at Bombed Church, Dies at 82.

Amy Waddell: That which might have been.

The Washington Post, September 16, 1963: Six Dead After Church Bombing: Blast Kills Four Children; Riots Follow; Two Youths Slain; State Reinforces Birmingham Police.

Wikipedia: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Gary Younge: American civil rights: the Welsh connection. In 1963, a racist bomb attack on an Alabama church that killed four black girls prompted a Welsh artist to make a profound gesture.

Zinn Education Project: Sept. 15, 1963: 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing.

Video & Audio

Code Switch:

• 50 Years After The Bombing, Birmingham Still Subtly Divided.
• Congress Honors Victims Of Infamous Alabama Church Bombing.

Ketanji Brown Jackson: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks at 16th Street Baptist Church commemoration.

Martin Luther King: Eulogy for the Young Victims.

NPR:

• Her sister was killed in the Birmingham church bombing. A new book tells their story.
• The last living parent of a child killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing dies.
• Lessons from Birmingham: 60 years after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
• Alabama Gov. Apologizes To Surviving ‘5th Girl’ Of 1963 KKK Bombing.
• Father Recalls Deadly Blast At Ala. Baptist Church.
• Long Forgotten, 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Survivor Speaks Out.

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland: A former Freedom Rider describes what it was like walking among the rubble of the 16th Avenue Baptist Church.

Sarah Collins Rudolph:

• Survivor of 1963 Birmingham church bombing describes the act of terror.
• 60 years after 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, “5th Little Girl” still fighting for justice.