Addie Mae Collins. Denise McNair. Carole Robertson. Cynthia Morris Wesley.

57 years ago today, these four precious young girls were killed while attending church at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

This historic church served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders and activists. A safe place for Black community members to worship, register to vote, educate, and organize. The 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point not just for marchers, but for freedom.

The innocent lives that were taken in Birmingham that day demanded the attention of Americans across the nation, and this targeted tragedy compelled the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It should never have taken the lives of these four young heroines to pave the way for the rights we have today or for people like myself to serve in the halls of Congress.

For the 50th anniversary of the bombing, I posthumously bestowed them with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2013 to honor the immense debt of gratitude we owe them -- correctly placing them in history amongst distinguished Americans.

At the Birmingham ceremony with Members of Congress presenting to Sara Collins, the sister of Addie Mae Collins, who was also a victim of the bomb and survived and the Family of Denise McNair.

Each year, I ask that we commemorate their legacy by not only acknowledging their lives, but by recommitting ourselves to standing against the same injustice and hate that continues to target Black and Brown communities today.

The legacies of Addie Mae, Denise, Carole, and Cynthia compel us to do no less.

Onward,

Terri Sewell

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