Schools
Birmingham Church Bombing Personal for Retired PG Principal
E. Diane Braddock, a retired Prince George's County Schools principal, will speak about the Civil Rights movement. Braddock's sister was one of four girls killed in a 1963 Birmingham church bombing.
In celebration of African American History Month, Kenmoor Middle School students and staff will hear from E. Diane Braddock. Braddock is the sister of Carole Robinson, one of the four girls killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.
Braddock, who recently received a congressional medal and is a retired Prince George's County Public Schools principal, will share her experiences, artifacts, and memories of the Civil Rights Movement and the event that was pivotal for her and her family, the schools said in a release.
The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed on Sunday, September 15, 1963. The explosion at the African-American church, tied to members of the Ku Klux Klan, marked a turning point in the Civil Rights movement and contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
After the bombing, white strangers visited the grieving families to express their sorrow, according to the National Park Service website. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the funeral for three of the girls. More than 8,000 mourners, including 800 clergymen of both races, attended the service.
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Braddock will speak to Kenmoor Middle School students from 9 a.m. to noon on Feb. 25.
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