Senate OKs honor for Birmingham bombing victims
Source: AP via HuffPo
WASHINGTON — Four victims of a deadly Alabama church bombing at the height of the civil rights movement are now just a presidential signature away from receiving Congress' highest civilian honor.
The Senate on Thursday approved by voice vote a measure that would posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair. The Senate approval of the measure comes after the House in April voted 420-0 to award the medal to the girls. It now goes to President Barack Obama for signature.
Collins, Robertson and Wesley, 14 at the time of their deaths, and McNair, who was 11, were killed when a bomb planted by white supremacists exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on Sept. 15, 1963. Twenty-two others were injured when the massive explosion blew a hole through a wall in the church, shattering most of its windows.
Reps. Terri Sewell, a Democrat, and Spencer Bachus, a Republican, have led the Alabama congressional delegation in its effort to honor the girls 50 years after the bombing. Sewell and Bachus represent Birmingham districts in Congress.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130509/us-birmingham-bombing-congress/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage
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