50th Anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing - An act of domestic terrorism that took the lives of four little girls

This past week was the 50th Anniversary of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, where 4 little girls were murdered. Melissa Harris-Perry looks back on that incident of domestic terrorism.

Segment 1



Segment 2



Segment 3

Black History Month Daily Thread

Four Little Girls
Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Cynthia Wesley

The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a racially motivated terrorist attack on September 15, 1963, by members of a Ku Klux Klan group in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. The bombing of the African-American church resulted in the deaths of four girls. Although city leaders had reached a settlement in May with demonstrators and started to integrate public places, not everyone agreed with ending segregation. Other acts of violence followed the settlement. The bombing increased support for people working for civil rights. It marked a turning point in the U.S. civil-rights movement of the mid-twentieth century and contributed to support for passage of civil rights legislation in 1964.

Read more »