16th Street Baptist Church bombing

===In sculpture and symbolism===
[[File:Four Spirits Statue Kelly Ingram Park Alabama.jpg|thumb|The ''Four Spirits'' sculpture, unveiled at Birmingham's [[Kelly Ingram Park]], September 2013]]

* Welsh craftsman and artist John Petts was inspired to construct and deliver the iconic stained-glass ''Welsh Window'' to the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1965. The ''Welsh Window'' is a large stained-glass edifice depicting a black Jesus, with arms outstretched, reminiscent of the [[Crucifixion of Jesus]]. Erected at the church in 1965,<ref name=younge/> the Welsh Window stands over the front door of the sanctuary.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA1029 |section=Sixteenth Street Baptist Church |title=Encyclopedia of African-American History |page=1029 |isbn=9780195167795 |last1=Alexander |first1=Leslie M |author2=Walter C Rucker JR |date=February 9, 2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO }}</ref>
* The American sculptor [[John Henry Waddell]] has created a memorial symbolizing those killed in the bombing. Entitled ''That Which Might Have Been: Birmingham 1963'', the sculpture—depicting four adult women in differing postures—was created over a period of 15 months.<ref name=waddell /> The four women in the sculpture are each depicted in symbolic terms; representing the four victims of the bombing, had they been allowed to mature to womanhood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artbyjohnwaddell.com/JHW/That_which_might_have_been.html |title=That which might have been |publisher=Artbyjohnwaddell.com |access-date=September 16, 2013 }}</ref> The sculpture was originally displayed at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] in 1969. A second casting of the sculpture was intended for display in Birmingham; however, due to controversy over the nudity of the women depicted in the sculpture, this second casting is now on display at the George Washington Carver Museum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM8ZFV_That_Which_Might_Have_Been_Birmingham_1963_Phoenix_Arizona |website=Waymarking.com |title=That Which Might Have Been, Birmingham 1963 - Phoenix, Arizona - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com |access-date=May 28, 2019 }}</ref>
* The names of the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing are engraved upon the [[Civil Rights Memorial]]. Erected in [[Montgomery, Alabama]] in 1989.<ref name=splcenter>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial |title=Civil Rights Memorial |work=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] |access-date=April 11, 2015 }}</ref> The Civil Rights Memorial is an inverted, [[cone|conical]] granite fountain and is dedicated to 41 people who died in the struggle for the equal rights and integrated treatment of all people between the years 1954 and 1968. The names of the 41 individuals themselves are chronologically engrained upon the surface of this fountain. Creator [[Maya Lin]] has described this sculpture as a "contemplative area; a place to remember the Civil Rights Movement, to honour those killed during the struggle, to appreciate how far the country has come in its quest for equality".<ref name=splcenter/>
* The ''Four Spirits'' sculpture was unveiled at Birmingham's [[Kelly Ingram Park]] in September 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bombing. Crafted in [[Berkeley, California]] by Birmingham-born sculptor Elizabeth MacQueen<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/09/memorial_project_for_16th_stre.html |title=Memorial project for 16th Street Baptist Church bombing raises $200,000 of $250,000 goal |work=al.com |date=September 2, 2013 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |first=Jeremy |last=Gray }}</ref> and designed as a memorial to the four children killed on September 15, 1963, the bronze and steel life-size sculpture depicts the four girls in preparation for the church sermon at the 16th Street Baptist Church in the moments immediately before the explosion. The youngest girl killed in the explosion (Carol Denise McNair) is depicted releasing six doves into the air as she stands tiptoed and [[barefoot]]ed upon a bench as another barefooted girl (Addie Mae Collins) is depicted kneeling upon the bench, affixing a dress sash to McNair; a third girl (Cynthia Wesley) is sat upon the bench alongside McNair and Collins with a Bible in her lap.<ref>{{cite news |title=Four Spirits unveiled across from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church |url=https://weldbham.com/blog/2013/09/14/four-spirits-unveiled-across-from-sixteenth-street-baptist-church/ |first=Tom |last=Gordon |work=Weld: Birmingham's Newspaper |date=September 14, 2013 |access-date=May 28, 2019 }}</ref> The fourth girl (Carole Robertson) is depicted standing and smiling as she motions the other three girls to attend their church sermon.<ref name=fourspirits>{{cite news |url=https://www.wbrc.com/story/23436446/four-spirits-statue-unveiled-to-the-public/ |work=[[WBRC]] |date=September 15, 2013 |title='Four Spirits' Sculpture Unveiled to the Public |first=Alan |last=Collins |access-date=May 28, 2019 }}</ref>
* At the base of the sculpture is an inscription of the title of the sermon the four girls were to attend before the bombing—"A Love That Forgives". Oval photographs and brief biographies of the four girls killed in the explosion, the most seriously injured survivor (Sarah Collins), and the two teenage boys who were shot to death later that day also adorn the base of the sculpture. More than 1,000 people were present at the unveiling of the memorial, including survivors of the bombing, friends of the victims and the parents of Denise McNair, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware.<ref name=fourspirits/> Among those to speak at the unveiling was [[Joseph Lowery|the Reverend Joseph Lowery]], who informed those present: "Don't let anybody tell you these children [[died in vain]]. We wouldn't be here right now, had they not gone home before our eyes."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://wbhm.org/feature/2013/four-spirits-statue-memorial-to-16th-street-baptist-church-bombing-victims-unveiled/ |work=[[WBHM]] |date=September 15, 2013 |first=Andrew |last=Yeager |access-date=May 28, 2019 |title=Four Spirits Statue, Memorial to 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Victims, Unveiled }}</ref>
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