Press Releases

  Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) released the following statement on today’s ceremony posthumously honoring Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley with Congressional Gold Medals. On September 15, 1963, the girls were killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

“Just 18 days after the March on Washington, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley lost their lives in one of the most horrific acts of racial violence our nation had ever seen.  These four little girls did not ask to become martyrs for the Civil Rights Movement, but that day, their deaths shone a light on the malevolence of hatred and discrimination that had plagued this country for far too long.

“Though many may have never heard their names before today, Addie Mae, Denise, Carole and Cynthia have now been awarded our nation’s highest civilian honor. Their places in our history are solidified, and their stories of involuntary sacrifice will be retold for decades to come.  Like many people of this nation did in the weeks following their death, today we join across racial and political lines to reaffirm that racism and the violence that often accompanies it have no place in our society.

“I thank Congresswoman Terri Sewell (AL-07), Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-06) and Senator Richard Shelby (AL) for their collective efforts to ensure the lives of these young girls and the lessons learned during this dark time in our nation’s history are never forgotten.”

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