‘Four little girls’ killed in 1963 church bombing honored with Congressional Gold Medal

[alp227]

Source: washington post

“Four little girls” received in death Friday one of the country’s highest civilian awards, as the nation’s first African American president honored some of the youngest victims in the historic fight for equal rights.

In the Oval Office, President Obama signed a bill designating the Congressional Gold Medal to the four girls killed on Sept. 15, 1963, when the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed by a group of Ku Klux Klan members.

The girls’ names were Addie Mae Collins, 14; Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14. They died inside their Sunday school classrooms when dynamite, set to explode by a timer, blew up the African American church.

The attack that killed the girls and injured 22 other churchgoers marked a turning point in the American struggle for civil rights. Propelled in part by public outrage over the bombing, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act the next year.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/four-little-girls-honored-with-congressional-gold-medal/2013/05/24/91e8d896-c481-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html

[Tx4obama]

1. Photo below taken at the signing of the bill

Photo CAPTION:
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 24: US President Barack Obama (2nd L) speaks as he signs a bill in the Oval Office designating the Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate the four young girls killed during the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, as (L-R) Rep Terri Sewell (D-AL), Thelma Pippen McNair, mother of Denise McNair, Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair, Dianne Braddock, sister of Carole Robertson, Rev Arthur Price, Jr, pastor 16th Street Baptist Church, and former U.

Article from Reuters, here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/birmingham-church-bombing-victims-congressional-gold-medal_n_3333481.html

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Saw this on one of the news shows tonight, heartbreaking.

They looked so young...

[Swagman]

3. very touching. Very difficult to comprehend the evil in the minds of those

who would destroy children, or bomb worshipers in a church.

[adieu]

4. Joan Baez sings about these four girls

When I first heard this most enigmatic song, I was wondering what this weird song with specific names and odd use of numbers. So I wiki'ed Birmingham Sunday and understood.

(The hyperlink on this comment is not very usable.)

[onehandle]

5. The TeaKlanGOPNRAhadists would cut this ceremony's funding.

Strictly for financial reasons, of course.

[Gore1FL]

6. How did that make it through congress or get 60 Votes in the Senate?

Didn't the Republicans realize the girls were were African Americans?

[Sunlei]

7. Mrs. Condie. Rice spoke of those times, she lived close and her family feared attacks from kkk/nra

She took her statement about hearing the bomb out of her wikki, remember reading she was 9 years old? he father would sit up nights with his gun to defend the family in case people came to burn homes.

Here's the wiki, she still mentions the tinsdale area but has made her early life seem like a political problem from democrats. I can't believe Mrs. Rice re-writes her own history into something more suited to todays republican crap. What a disapointment Mrs. Rice is towards a part of American history that should NEVER be forgotten or made political! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice

[mountain grammy]

8. She became a Republican like her father because the Dems were the party of Jim Crow

But now that's the Republicans.. how anyone of color or any minority can be a Republican these days just blows my mind. They hide their racism behind "individualism" and Condi's smart enough to know that.. but considering the blundering administration she blundered along with, maybe not.

[Sunlei]

11. that's what Mrs Rice added to her wiki (her wiki changed over past year a lot)........

She said, she became a R in those days because the Ds of those old days would not let her father vote and the Rs would. Once reconstruction was stopped, Lincon was killed in those states..it was a nightmare for many decades for black people. The new president and our supreme court allowed segregation and horrible oppression by race. Even today a lot of the counties are still segregated.

political parties, religions, races to many different names, labels for all kinds of humans.

[Pterodactyl]

9. I've never heard that these attacks were linked to the NRA. You have a source to back that up?

[Sunlei]

10. The KKK and the NRA rose up together hand in hand.

[Pterodactyl]

12. Seems to me the KKK and NRA were (and are) separate.

Although they both have their origins in the post-Civil War era, one originated in the North and was more a skills-based club and advocacy group. The other originated in the South and was a hate group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association

So, if you are going to conflate the two, please cite a source, so I can read up in this interesting historical link of which I was not previously aware.

[Sunlei]

14. here you go official gov records, state records, pictures et all.

you'll have to go over yourself the thousands of pics, millions of docs, the written records of the day. One thing our gov does and still does even today is save every record- state and federal forever.

You know as well as I do lobbiests groups like the NRA write their own glory history for Wiki

Many of the records are in this documentary, quite a few refrences to NRA and KKK

The NRA and KKK rose up together hand in hand, that with their leaflets/written materials- of those days- are shown in this documentary. The reasons why are discussed by historial experts aswell.

http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/watch/

[shawn703]

13. Out of curiosity

What is the nation's second highest civilian award? They always make a point of stating that this honor is the nation's highest when this one is awarded. And would there be disappointment if someone was awarded that one instead of this one?

[Sgent]

15. Take a look... there's a lot

from Congress there's the silver medal. Then there's also the Presidential Medal of Freedom, citizen's medal, etc. Most of the awards are given by various executive departments, but there are some more general ones that rank below CGM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awards_and_decorations_of_the_United_States_government