Commemorating 50 Years Since the 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing
A look at events remembering the lives of the young victims.
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Commemorating the 1963 Birmingham Bombing - On Sept. 15, the nation marks 50 years since four girls were killed in the tragic 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. There have been several ceremonies honoring the lives of Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair this year. Take a look at past and future events remembering the lives of the young victims. — Natelege Whaley(Photo: / Associated Press / SL)
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Congress Awards Congressional Gold Medal - Beneath a bronze statue of Rosa Parks on the U.S. Capitol, a ceremony was held to honor Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair with a Congressional Gold medal, the highest civilian honor, on Tuesday. "The senseless deaths of these children awakened the slumbering conscience of the nation," Representative Terri Sewell, an Alabama Democrat, said at a ceremony, according to Reuters. (Photo: Pete Marovich/MCT/LANDOV)
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Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Will House Medal - The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will be displaying the Congressional Gold Medal given to the bombing victims. (Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Stained-Glass from Church Donated to Smithsonian - Randall Jimerson and his siblings donated a piece of stained glass and metal shard from the church bombing to the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 11. Their father Norman “Jim” Jimerson was a white minister who worked on racial issues and collected the glass piece as symbol to remember the tragedy.(Photo: Birmingham News/Landov)
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Day of Service - More than 5,000 volunteers in Birmingham, Alabama, took part in a day of service to commemorate the church bombing on Sept. 11. Volunteers cleaned up city parks, libraries and communities from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. At 4 p.m., Grammy-winning gospel singers CeCe Winans and Donnie McClurkin performed.(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Memorial Unveiling - On Saturday, Sept. 14, an unveiling of a bronze memorial to the girls who died in the church bombing will be held at 4 p.m. in Kelly Ingram Park across from 16th Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. (Photo: AP Photo/Butch Dill)
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Eric Holder and Condoleezza Rice Panel Discussion - On Sunday Sept. 15, the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center will present “An Afternoon with National Leaders,” followed by a staged reading of Four Little Girls: Birmingham 1963. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and former secretary of state and Birmingham native Condoleezza Rice will speak at 12:30 p.m. (Photos: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; AP Photo/Star-Telegram/Max Faulkner)