Carolyn McKinstry - While the World Watched

Carolyn McKinstry

February 6, 2020
The Great Hall

Reflection | Podcast | VideoPhotos


Carolyn Maull McKinstry is a survivor of the Civil Rights struggle and an eyewitness to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. As a teenager, she marched under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and bravely faced Bull Connor's German shepherds and stinging fire hoses during the battle for equal rights in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.

Now, nearly fifty years after the bombing, Carolyn is still an active member of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, serves as president of the Sixteenth Street Foundation, and works full time spreading her message of racial reconciliation.


Reflection

 

In celebration of Black History Month, on Thursday, February 6th, 2020, Rev. Dr. Carolyn Maull McKinstry shared her story of growing up as a survivor of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. As a teenager, McKinstry marched under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and bravely faced Bull Connor's German shepherds and stinging fire hoses during the battle for equal rights in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. In 2013, she wrote the book While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age During the Civil Rights Movement, an account of the bombings, riots, assignations, and the historic marches and triumphant moments of the Civil Rights movement and is currently working on a second book. Dr. McKinstry was introduced to the stage by Dr. Schvalla Rivera, SUU Chief Diversity Officer.

“You’ve heard a lot about my life already,” said McKinstry, “so I’ll just briefly say that as I have traveled, I find that I encounter situations and people who have not heard anything about the events that have transpired in Birmingham, Alabama, which has been a bit surprising.” Dr. McKinstry proceeded to talk about how she dedicated her life to sharing her story and the message of love, peace, and reconciliation throughout the nation as well as many of the after effects of the bombing’s impact on her own life. 

She then showed the audience live footage from the day of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, showing interviews from eyewitnesses and telling the story of four young girls who had died from the bombing, 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and 11-year-old Denise McNair, all of whom McKinstry had known as a child.

The video showed the devastation that had occurred as a result of the bombings and the brutality of the Ku Klux Klan and that of Birmingham’s police commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor towards those fighting against racism.

Since the bombings, McKinstry has shown forgiveness and led her peers in sending a message of peace and reconciliation and has worked hard towards preservation of the integrity of racial equality throughout the Civil Rights Movement and continuing on to this day.

- By Emily Sexton


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