The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing occurred on September 15, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, during the Civil Rights Movement. Ku Klux Klan members planted a bomb at the predominantly African American church, a key meeting place for civil rights leaders. The explosion killed four girls - Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley - and injured many others. The attack shocked the nation, drawing attention to the violent resistance to desegregation and helping to galvanize support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Decades later, surviving perpetrators were tried and convicted.