Cynthia Wesley

Cynthia Dionne Wesley (April 30, 1949 – September 15, 1963), born to Claude and Gertrude Wesley. Wesley attended Ullman High School. She belonged to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where she was a victim of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that detonated on September 15, 1963. She died in the blast with three other young girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Carol McNair. Cynthia was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Alabama with two of the three other girls. Martin Luther King Jr. held the eulogy for three of the girls, over 8,000 people attended. In 2013, all four victims were awarded Congressional Gold Medals.[1] There was also a bronze and steel statue made of the girls and unveiled at Kelly Ingram Park, across from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.[2] The church has also since been made a National Historic Landmark. Joan Baez memorializes the four girls in the song "Birmingham Sunday".

Spike Lee, filmmaker and professor, produced Four Little Girls, a movie about the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing.

References
  1. "U.S. awards medals to four girls killed in 1963 civil rights bombing". reuters.com. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  2. "Historic civil rights district in Alabama designated national monument". cbsnews.com. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.