The monument honoring the four little girls murdered in the horrific bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963 will be unveiled today in Birmingham, according to Weld for Birmingham.
The commissioned statues of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robinson, and Cynthia Wesley will be on permanent display in Kelly Ingram Park one day ahead of the 50th anniversary of their deaths.
“The Four Spirits Monument, as it is called, is the culmination of work that started as a concept proposed last year by a volunteer nonprofit committee and made a reality in about four months by Birmingham-born sculptor Elizabeth MacQueen. MacQueen was watching closely, sometimes giving guidance, as workers removed the two sculptures that make up the memorial from a protective wooden crate, prepared them for lifting by a crane and guided the two sculptures to where they were to be anchored. As the memorial came into view during this process, people who were watching came up to thank MacQueen for her work, and some asked to have their picture taken with her,” Weld writer Tom Gordon reported.
The project is still about $5,000 short of it’s goal of raising $250,000 to fund the art memorial. Those wishing to donate to the Four Spirits project can do so online through the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham. You also can mail donations to the foundation at 2100 First Avenue North, Suite 700, Birmingham AL 35203-4223. Be sure to put “Four Spirits” on the check’s memo line.
The unveiling will take place at 4 p.m. today. To read Gordon’s full account in Weld of Birmingham, click here.
The Four Spirits Come Home memorial is installed in Kelly Ingram Park.
Photo courtesy of Weld for Birmingham
