Last Parent Of Child Killed In 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Dies
Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the girls killed in the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, has died. She was the mother of Denise McNair, who at just 11 years old was the youngest child murdered.
According to NBC News, Maxine McNair died at 93 years old. Her cause of death is not public. McNair’s family said in a statement, “Mrs. McNair was an amazing wife and mother and as a teacher of 33 years in the Birmingham public school system imparted knowledge in the lives of hundreds. We are going to miss her laughter and her humor. The family would appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.”
Her husband, Chris McNair, died at the age of 93 in 2019.
On Sept. 15, 1963, four Black girls, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair, were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, after a member of the Ku Klux Klan detonated a bomb under the steps of the church.
The girls were attending Sunday school in the church’s basement when the bomb exploded. Fourteen others were also injured in the blast.
Although the Ku Klux Klan was suspected to be involved, no one was initially arrested for the crime. It was later revealed that then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover identified four suspects immediately after the blast, but prevented agents from passing the information to prosecutors.
After the investigation was reopened in 2000, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry surrendered after they were indicted on first-degree murder charges. Blanton was sentenced to life in prison at age 62. Cherry was also sentenced to life in prison and died while incarcerated from cancer in 2004 at age 72.
The deaths of the girls sparked riots around the city and were especially heinous given Birmingham’s designation as America’s most segregated city at the time. Just days before the bombing, Birmingham schools were federally ordered to integrate. That same year, Gov. George Wallace physically barred two African-American students from entering the University of Alabama in an incident known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door."
In 1963, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was a well-known hub of civil rights activity and leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth organized demonstrations at the church.
