Join us as we celebrate Black History Month in February and Bold Women’s Day during Women’s History Month in March. Follow this blog every Monday, as we reflect on bold women of faith—women whose collective voices continue to change the lives of women and girls every day!
by Valora K Starr
Sunday worship at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, began at 11:00 a.m. just as most churches in the deep south. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, the Rev. John H. Cross Jr. and the young members were preparing for a Youth Day worship service. Sunday school was dismissed, and at 10:21 a.m., a bomb went off, instantly killing four girls: 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair and 14-year-old Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, and Carole Robertson and injuring 20 others.
The girls, all dressed in fancy white dresses, gathered in the “Ladies Lounge” to ready themselves for their parts in worship. Addie kindly stopped for her last act of service to tie Denise’s sash into a neat bow as both prepared to sing in the choir. Cynthia and Carole were getting ready for their duties as ushers for the day.
Bombings were so routine over 30 years that the city was called “Bombingham.” Today, we think about how parents back then prepared their children for such horrific acts of violence. We wonder, “How did they teach them the faith?” And, just as we cannot measure the faith of our children today, it was evident that these four girls and the children injured were indeed children of faith or at least loved “church.” Their tender faith, budding, strong and flexible, showed through every remembrance of them.
Watch 4 Little Girls – Spike Lee Documentary . Watch 4 Little Girls Online | 1997 Movie | Yidio
Photos from the CNN website: Photos: 1963 Birmingham church bombing | CNN
Listen for the descriptions of the girls, segregation and violence/bombing in Birmingham. How would we answer these same questions 62 years later about mass shootings and racial and gender justice?
Valora K Starr is director for discipleship for Women of the ELCA.
Photo of the “Four Spirits” sculpture is a memorial for the four little girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Used with permission from Shutterstock.
Thanks for sharing their story and the link to “The Four Spirits” sculpture. Well done, Val!