Alabama Governor Kay Ivey declared a statewide day of remembrance for Carole Robertson, one of the four victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, in a proclamation made Monday.
Ahead of the 62nd anniversary of the bombing, which took Robertson’s life at fourteen years old as well as the lives of 14-year-old Addie Mae Collins, 14-year-old Cynthia Wesley and 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair, Ivey declared September 20 Carole Robertson Day.
The bombing was planned and committed by four members of a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, using 19 sticks of dynamite attached to a timer and left beneath the church’s steps. Alongside ending the lives of four young girls, the explosion injured up to 23 people in and around 16th Street Baptist Church…