Last parent of a child killed in 1963 church bombing dies

 ========= Old Image Removed =========1Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2022/01/AP22002823197834-e1641233516471.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:1237;s:6:"height";i:695;s:4:"file";s:43:"2022/01/AP22002823197834-e1641233516471.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-336x189.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-771x433.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:433;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-768x431.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:431;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-800x450.jpg";s:5:"width";i:800;s:6:"height";i:450;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-554x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:554;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-470x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"AP22002823197834-e1641233516471-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:2:"AP";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:563:"Maxine McNair, right, and Jewell Chris MacNair, left, parents of Denise McNair, the 11-year-old black girl killed in an Alabama church bombing nearly 50 years ago with three other girls, attend a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair. The ceremony comes five days before the 50th anniversary of their deaths inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.  (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:10:"1378830361";s:9:"copyright";s:57:"Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:18:"Obit Maxine McNair";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"1";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_wp_attachment_backup_sizes] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:11:{s:9:"full-orig";a:3:{s:5:"width";i:1237;s:6:"height";i:900;s:4:"file";s:20:"AP22002823197834.jpg";}s:14:"thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:11:"medium-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-336x244.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:244;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:17:"medium_large-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-768x559.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:559;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:10:"large-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-771x561.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:561;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"wbhm-icon-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"AP22002823197834-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-800x450.jpg";s:5:"width";i:800;s:6:"height";i:450;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"wbhm-featured-square-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:23:"wbhm-featured-home-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-427x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:427;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:27:"wbhm-featured-carousel-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-364x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:364;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:19:"post-thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"AP22002823197834-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}
        )

    [_wp_attachment_image_alt] => Array
        (
            [0] => Maxine McNair, right, and Jewell Chris MacNair, left, parents of Denise McNair, the 11-year-old black girl killed in an Alabama church bombing nearly 50 years ago with three other girls, attend a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair. The ceremony comes five days before the 50th anniversary of their deaths inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => AP Photo
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => Manuel Balce Ceneta
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

)
1647280125 
1641212143
Maxine McNair, right, and Jewell Chris MacNair, left, parents of Denise McNair, the 11-year-old black girl killed in an Alabama church bombing nearly 50 years ago with three other girls, attend a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair. The ceremony comes five days before the 50th anniversary of their deaths inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Maxine McNair, right, and Jewell Chris MacNair, left, parents of Denise McNair, the 11-year-old black girl killed in an Alabama church bombing nearly 50 years ago with three other girls, attend a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair. The ceremony comes five days before the 50th anniversary of their deaths inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

AP Photo, Manuel Balce Ceneta

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the four Black girls killed in a 1963 Alabama church bombing, died Sunday. She was 93.

McNair’s family announced her death in a press release. A cause of death was not given.

McNair’s daughter, 11-year-old Denise McNair, was the youngest girl killed in the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, the deadliest single attack of the civil rights movement. Also killed were three 14-year-olds: Addie Mae Collins, Carole Rosamond Robertson and Cynthia Dionne Wesley.

Three members of the Ku Klux Klan were eventually convicted in the case, the first in 1977 and two more in the early 2000s.

Christopher McNair, center left, and Maxine McNair, center right, parents of Denise McNair, one of four African American girls who died in a church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 15, hold press conference at a hotel, Sept. 20, 1963, New York. Mr. McNair, a professional photographer, said the U.S. should stop worrying about its image abroad and clean up house in America. The man on the left is unidentified. (AP Photo)
Christopher McNair, center left, and Maxine McNair, center right, parents of Denise McNair, one of four African American girls who died in a church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 15, hold press conference at a hotel, Sept. 20, 1963, New York. Mr. McNair, a professional photographer, said the U.S. should stop worrying about its image abroad and clean up house in America. The man on the left is unidentified.

Maxine McNair worked as a teacher for over three decades in Birmingham public schools. Her daughter, Lisa McNair, said she changed many lives through education and left a lasting legacy through the students she touched.

“Mrs. McNair was an amazing wife and mother and as a teacher of 33 years in the Birmingham public school system imparted knowledge in the lives of hundreds. We are going to miss her laughter and her humor. The family would appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers,” the family’s statement said.

Maxine McNair’s husband, Chris McNair, died in 2019 at the age of 93. He was one of the first Black members of the Alabama legislature since Reconstruction and a Jefferson County commissioner.

In 2013, Maxine McNair attended an Oval Office ceremony in which President Barack Obama awarded the four girls the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the country’s highest civilian honors.

Funeral arrangements for a celebration of Maxine McNair’s life are pending.

Denise McNair was one of five girls who had gathered in a downstairs bathroom at the 16th Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963, when a timed bomb planted by KKK members went off outside under a set of stairs.

The fifth girl and sister of Addie Mae Collins, Sarah Collins Rudolph, was blinded in one eye by the blast. She later provided testimony that helped lead to the convictions of the men accused of planting the bomb.

The church bombing came during the height of the fight for Civil Rights in America, and as Birmingham’s public schools were being desegregated. The four girls became emblems of the racist hatred that emanated from much of the opposition to equal rights.

 

How Alabama’s first commuted death sentence this century came about

Robin "Rocky" Myers has been on Alabama’s death row for more than 30 years. Then, on February 28, he became the first Alabamian this century to have his death sentence commuted. 

Steve Reich has always been to able to hear the pulse

The 88-year-old composer, who talks as fast as the interlocking phrases of his music, looks back on crucial moments in a career that moved minimalism into the mainstream.

There’s a lot to unpack in ‘Black Bag’ — a witty, sexy spy thriller

Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender play a high-ranking spy couple in Steven Soderbergh's new film. Black Bag offers Bond-style globe-trotting intrigue and marital dramedy.

Photos: Across the U.S., sky gazers marvel at the blood moon lunar eclipse

As the moon moved through the shadow of the Earth, it was also being illuminated by light from the sun — causing the moon to appear as if dipped in a deep red hue in a stunning celestial sight.

Hamas says it’s willing to release the five American hostages in Gaza

Hamas, the militant group the U.S. has labeled as terrorists, says it's willing to release the one living American hostage and bodies of four others it's held in Gaza since the 2023 attacks in Israel.

Dorothy Thompson: The journalist who warned us about Hitler

Dorothy Thompson saw the rise of Nazi Germany as a foreign correspondent in Berlin. A new series from Radio Diaries tells the story of Thompson's career as a radio broadcaster.

More Front Page Coverage