Echoes of Bombingham

May 13, 2019 1:01 AM

Chris McNair, father of 16th Street Baptist Church bombing victim, dies at 93. Denise McNair would today be 67. WaPo | alternate source, no pictures
posted by Johnny Wallflower (4 comments total)

Come round by my side and I'll sing you a song
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong
On Birmingham Sunday the blood ran like wine
And the choir kept singing of freedom

That cold autumn morning no eyes saw the sun
And Addie Mae Collins, her number was one
At an old Baptist church there was no need to run
And the choir kept singing of freedom

The clouds they were dark and the autumn wind blew
And Denise McNair brought the number to two
The falcon of death was a creature they knew
And the choir kept singing of freedom

The church it was crowded, but no one could see
That Cynthia Wesley's dark number was three
Her prayers and her feelings would shame you and me
And the choir kept singing of freedom

Young Carol Robertson entered the door
And the number her killers had given was four
She asked for a blessing but asked for no more
And the choir kept singing of freedom

On Birmingham Sunday a noise shook the ground
And people all over the earth turned around
For no one recalled a more cowardly sound
And the choir kept singing of freedom

The men in the forest they once asked of me
How many black berries grew in the Blue Sea
I asked them right back with a tear in my eye
How many dark ships in the forest?

The Sunday has come and the Sunday has gone
And I can't do much more than to sing you a song
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong
And the choir keeps singing of freedom
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:08 AM on May 13, 2019 [10 favorites]

I was thirteen. White. A girl. We had just come back to the US a few months before after many years in Europe. Those girls were my age. My mother and I cried when we saw the news on tv. A couple of weeks before that my dad had been to the March on Washington. A couple of months later I volunteered to help raise money for SNCC.

Angela Davis grew up in Birmingham and knew two of the girls who were killed.
posted by mareli at 11:58 AM on May 13, 2019 [4 favorites]

There is quite a university legacy from Birmingham Angela Davis (President), Freeman Hrabowski (President) and Condoleeza Rice (Provost). Given the strength of the community, he was robbed of his daughter’s future, certainly.
posted by childofTethys at 12:55 PM on May 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

.
posted by allthinky at 5:48 PM on May 13, 2019