Being a Christian and a Child of God, Carol Denise McNair attended the 16th Street Baptist Church with her parents Chris and Maxine McNair. She was the eldest child. Denise attended Center Street Elementary School. She was a member of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which had the spacious basement auditorium, the center for meetings of the Civil Rights movement. Carol Denise McNair and three other girls died on Sunday morning, September 15, 1963, when a bomb planted by the KKK exploded at their church killing Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), and Carole Robertson (14). These four girls became symbols of racial violence, honored as martyrs in the struggle for Civil Rights. In 2013, the United States Congress awarded each girl the Congressional Gold Medal.
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Church Affiliation:Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Role in the Movement:The murder of Carol Denise McNair focused public attention on racial violence in the South.
Birth Place:Birmingham, AL
Born Date:November 17, 1951
Deceased Date:September 15, 1963
Place Lived as Adult:As a child, Carol lived in Birmingham, Alabama
Church Location:Birmingham, AL