Birmingham, 1963

A poetic tribute to the victims of the racially motivated church bombing that served as a seminal event in the struggle for civil rights. In 1963, the eyes of the world were on Birmingham, Alabama, a flashpoint for the civil rights movement. Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the United States. Civil rights demonstrators were met with police dogs and water cannons. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan planted sticks of dynamite at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which served as a meeting place for civil rights organizers. The explosion killed four little girls. Their murders shocked the nation and turned the tide in the struggle for equality. Here is a book that captures the heartbreak of that day, as seen through the eyes of a fictional witness. Archival photographs with poignant text written in free verse offer a powerful tribute to the young victims.

Carole Boston Weatherford is an award-winning poet and author of over two dozen books for children, including Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom and Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins. She has won the Carter G. Woodson Award from the National Council for the Social Studies and the Juvenile Literature Award from the American Association of University Women-North Carolina.