Remembering the Lives Lost: 60 Years Since the Alabama Church Bombing

The 60th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four Black girls and galvanized the civil rights movement, is being commemorated with a week of events. The bombing, carried out by Ku Klux Klan members, shocked the world and drew attention to the fight against racial segregation. The city of Birmingham is hosting discussions on healing racial trauma, an international peace conference, and an exhibition of work by photographer Chris McNair, whose daughter was killed in the bombing. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered a keynote address at the rebuilt church, emphasizing the need to confront and learn from the darkest parts of the past.