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On this 54th Anniversary of the 16th St. Church bombing, I will be posting about the movement for which the young martyrs died. 
Fact 1: Bombing occurred two weeks after the March on Washington & King's famous "Dream" speech, likely as retaliation for the march.
Bombed killed 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins,Cynthia Wesley,Carole Robertson, and 11-year-old Denise McNair
3) Timed device went off at 10:22 am that morning, precisely when the congregation’s youngest members would be finishing Sunday school.
4) Device destroyed all the churches stained glass windows, except for one, the one which depicts Jesus leading a group of little children.
5) The sermon planned for that morning at 16th Street was entitled "A Love that Forgives"
6) Rev. John H Cross, pastor of 16th St. attempted to calm the angry grief-stricken crowd that gathered by reading Psalm 23 over a bullhorn.
7)16th St. had been the site of the Birmingham Children's march which led to Bull Connor's ouster & led to JFK's support of civil rights act
8) 2 more black youths (Johnny Robinson 16 & Virgil Ware 13) were shot and killed in Birmingham within seven hours of the bombing.
9) In his eulogy MLK called attention not only to murderers but to the "philosophy, way of life, & system" that created the murderers.
10) Along with others, MLK implicated cowardly pastors, segregationist politicians, & complacent citizens in children's deaths.
You can hear the 7minute eulogy here
11) Their tragic deaths marked a turning point in the movement, ushering in the passage of key civil rights legislation in 1964.
