Carolyn Maull McKinstry was 14 years old in September of 1963 when a bomb exploded at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, killing four of her friends. She was steps away from the bomb. Carolyn says, “The explosion sounded like rumbling thunder. I remember thinking there must be a storm outside. As soon as I thought that, the windows started shattering.”
In recent years, Carolyn joined forces with friends in Birmingham to restore and refurbish the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, so that the transforming of message of Christ will continue to be made known—and future generations will remember that hate will not triumph.
This past August, Carolyn completed the requirements for her degree from the Beeson Divinity School. The world is better because of Carolyn McKinstry.