16th Street Baptist Church bombing

===Funerals===
Carole Rosamond Robertson was laid to rest in a private family funeral held on September 17, 1963.<ref name="Park City Daily News Sept. 19, 1963">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jRsfAAAAIBAJ&pg=4194,1375176 |title=Three Bomb Victims Are Buried |work=[[The Daily News (Kentucky)|Park City Daily News]] |agency=Associated Press |date=September 19, 1963 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> Reportedly, Carole's mother, Alpha, had expressly requested that her daughter be buried separately from the other victims. She was distressed about a remark made by Martin Luther King, who had said that the mindset that enabled the murder of the four girls was the "[[apathy]] and [[Contentment|complacency]]" of black people in Alabama.<ref name="crimes and trials">{{cite book |isbn=978-0313341090 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNex7XqLuiIC&pg=PA272 |first1=Steven |last1=Chermak |first2=Frankie Y. |last2=Bailey |title=Crimes and Trials of the Century |access-date=May 27, 2019 |date=2007 | publisher=ABC-CLIO }}</ref>{{rp|272}}

The service for Carole Rosamond Robertson was held at St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church. In attendance were 1,600 people. At this service, the Reverend C. E. Thomas told the congregation: "The greatest tribute you can pay to Carole is to be calm, be lovely, be kind, be innocent."<ref>{{cite news |title=Hundreds Mourn At Rites |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X7wqAAAAIBAJ&pg=3807,3815099 |work=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]] |date=September 18, 1963 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> Carole Robertson was buried in a blue casket at Shadow Lawn Cemetery.<ref>{{cite news |title=First of 4 Birmingham Bomb Victims is Buried |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sGY8AAAAIBAJ&pg=686,1625362 |work=[[Baltimore Afro-American]] |date=September 21, 1963 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |first=James D. |last=Williams }}</ref>
[[File:Funeral program for church bombings.jpg|180px|right|thumb|Funeral program for Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carol Denise McNair]]

On September 18, the funeral of the three other girls killed in the bombing was held at the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church. Although no city officials attended this service,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/ |title=We Shall Overcome Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement |website=nps.gov |publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |access-date=November 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525184307/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/ |archive-date=May 25, 2019 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> an estimated 800 clergymen of all races were among the attendees. Also present was Martin Luther King Jr. In a speech conducted before the burials of the girls, King addressed an estimated 3,300<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XcZaAAAAIBAJ&pg=4313,3210110 |title=Over 3,000 Attend Bomb Victims' Rites |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |date=September 19, 1963 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> mourners—including numerous white people—with a speech saying: 
{{Quote|This tragic day may cause the white side to come to terms with its conscience. In spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not become bitter ... We must not lose faith in our white brothers. Life is hard. At times as hard as [[crucible steel]], but, today, you do not walk alone.<ref name="not in vain">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yswpAAAAIBAJ&pg=6166,4124115 |work=Ocala [[Star-Banner]] |title=Funeral Speakers Say Deaths Of Three Children Not In Vain |date=September 19, 1963 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rev-martin-luther-kings-e_b_3930450 |title=Martin Luther King's 'Eulogy for the Martyred Children' |first=Peter |last=Dreier |date=September 15, 2013 |work=[[Huffington Post]] |access-date=May 28, 2019 }}</ref>}}

As the girls' coffins were taken to their graves, King directed that those present remain solemn and forbade any singing, shouting or demonstrations. These instructions were relayed to the crowd present by a single youth with a bullhorn.<ref name="not in vain"/>