Mother of 1963 bombing victim dies
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The last living parent of any of the four Black girls killed in the 1963 Alabama church bombing died Sunday. She was 93.
Maxine McNair's family announced her death in a news 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.
Maxine McNair worked as a teacher for 33 years in the Birmingham public school system. Her daughter, Lisa McNair, said she changed many lives through education and left a lasting legacy through the students she touched.
Maxine McNair's husband, Chris McNair, died in 2019 at age 93. He was one of the first Black members of the Alabama Legislature since Reconstruction and a Jefferson County commissioner.
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, 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.
FILE - Maxine McNair, seated, is presented a medal by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., during ceremonies at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Friday, Sept. 13, 2013. McNair is the mother of Denise McNair, one of four young girls killed by a bomb placed outside the church on Sept. 15, 1963. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the children killed in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, died Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. She was 93. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)
FILE - Christopher McNair, center left, and Maxine McNair, right, parents of Denise McNair, one of four African American girls who died in a church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 15, hold a news conference at a hotel, Sept. 20, 1963, in New York. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the children killed in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, died Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. She was 93. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2013, file photo, Chris and Maxine McNair, the parents of of Denise McNair, watch as a sculpture is revealed at the unveiling ceremony for "The Four Little Girls," a sculpture memorial honoring Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley in Birmingham, Ala. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the children killed in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, died Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. She was 93. (AP Photo/Hal Yeager, File)
FILE - Maxine McNair, right, and Jewell Chris MacNair, seated at left, parents of Denise McNair, the 11-year-old Black girl killed in an Alabama church bombing nearly 50 years earlier 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. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the children killed in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, died Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. She was 93. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)