Sixty years ago, four little girls in Birmingham paid the ultimate sacrifice in the fight for freedom in the United States.
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, on Thursday hosted a “Terri Talks” virtual discussion, “Gone But Never Forgotten: Commemorating 60 Years Since the Passing of the Four Little Girls.” The discussion featured Lisa McNair, the sister of Denise McNair who was one of the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on Sept. 15, 1963 in Birmingham.
More:Sister of Birmingham church bombing victim tells her story | DON NOBLE
The conversation focused on the significance of the tragedy 60 years later and the need to ensure the pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement is never forgotten.
Sewell is one of the first women elected to Congress from Alabama and the first Black woman to ever serve in the Alabama congressional delegation.
Sewell said Denise McNair and the other three girls who were killed in the bombing 60 years ago helped pave the way for her political career.
“It’s never lost on me that I get to walk the halls of congress as Alabama’s first Black congresswoman because those four little girls never got to fulfill their dreams,” said Sewell during Thursday’s virtual discussion.
Lisa McNair, who was born after her older sister’s death, spoke about Denise McNair’s life and how she is continuing to honor her memory.
“Denise, from what I’ve heard family members say, was a very precocious child, she was very smart, she was quick-witted, but she was, even in her young age, was about justice,” Lisa McNair said.
Sewell and Lisa McNair spoke about the legacy of the four little girls and the effects their death has on the city of Birmingham and the Civil Rights Movement.
Lisa McNair said she believes it’s important to remember the four girls who were killed in the bombing and continue to share their stories. In addition to 11-year-old Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Morris Wesley, all 14-year-olds, died in the church bombing.
Three members of the Ku Klux Klan were eventually convicted in the case, the first in 1977 and two more in the early 2000s, according to the Associated Press.
The church bombing came during the height of the fight for Civil Rights in America, and as Birmingham’s public schools were being desegregated. The four girls became emblems of the racist hatred that emanated from much of the opposition to equal rights.
“It’s important because we should not forget our history, if we forget our history, we are destined to repeat it,” Lisa McNair said.
After the 1963 bombing and other key events, such as the Selma march and the march on Washington, D.C., led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and life became less strictly segregated in the U.S.
“Her death was not in vain … We need to continue to share those stories, we need to continue to remember the four little girls because we gained so much more freedom after their death. And we need to always make that mean something,” she said.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Reach Jasmine Hollie at JHollie@gannett.com.
