50th Anniversary

In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most segregated cities in the United States. Civil rights demonstrators were met with police dogs and water cannons. The eyes of the world were on Birmingham, a flashpoint for the civil rights movement. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan planted nineteen sticks of dynamite under the back steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which served as a meeting place for civil rights organizers. The explosion claimed the lives of four little girls. Their murders shocked the nation and turned the tide in the struggle for equality. Here is a book that captures the heartbreak of that tragic day, as seen through the eyes of a fictional witness to the bombing. Pairing archival photographs with poignant text written in free verse, Carole Boston Weatherford offers a powerful tribute to the young victims.