uncoralhistory:

Pictured above: A political cartoon sent to JFK by cartoonist Don Hesse (from the Kennedy Library).

On September 15, 1963, four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted a box of dynamite under the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church om Birmingham, Alabama, near the basement. At about 10:22 a.m., twenty-six children were walking into the basement assembly room when the bomb exploded. Four girls, Addie Mae Collins (14), Denise McNair (11), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14), were killed in the attack. Twenty two additional people were injured.

Immediately following the attacks, the White House was overwhelmed with mail, telegrams and donations to 16th Street Church.