Last parent of child killed in 1963 church bombing 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 press 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.

“Mrs. Mcnair was an amazing wife and mother and as a teacher of 33 years in the Birmingham public school system imparted knowledge in the lives of hundreds. We are going to miss her laughter and her humor. The family would appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers,” the family’s statement said.

Maxine Mcnair’s husband, Chris Mcnair, died in 2019 at the age of 93. He was one of the first Black members of the Alabama legislature since Reconstruction, and a Jefferson County commissioner.

In 2013, Maxine Mcnair attended the Oval Office ceremony in which President Barack Obama awarded the four girls the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the country’s highest civilian honors.

Funeral arrangements for a celebration of Maxine Mcnair’s life are pending.