While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement [Hardcover]

Carolyn Maull McKinstry (Author), Denise George (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 28, 2011

On September 15, 1963, a Klan-planted bomb went off in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Fourteen-year-old Carolyn Maull was just a few feet away when the bomb exploded, killing four of her friends in the girl’s rest room she had just exited. It was one of the seminal moments in the Civil Rights movement, a sad day in American history . . . and the turning point in a young girl’s life.
While the World Watched is a poignant and gripping eyewitness account of life in the Jim Crow South—from the bombings, riots and assassinations to the historic marches and triumphs that characterized the Civil Rights movement.
A uniquely moving exploration of how racial relations have evolved over the past 5 decades, While the World Watched is an incredible testament to how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The nation's collective memory of the civil rights movement depends largely on journalists and biographers who witnessed the snarling dogs and brutal racist tactics used to enforce and defend segregation in the South. In a more personal account, McKinstry, a survivor of the Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., offers the rare perspective of both a child and an eyewitness to some of the most jarring aspects of blacks' fight for civil rights. Her tale of surviving the bombing, which killed four of her friends on September 15, 1963, vividly describes the force of water from fire hoses that left a hole in her sweater; the ominous call moments before the bomb exploded; and the clouds that formed in her mental sky when she realized that the childhood innocence her parents had relied on to shield her from racism was gone. The text of speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and short summaries of Jim Crow laws are an educational addition to the narrative, but in boxes alongside the main narrative, they are also a visual distraction from the main text. Depending on the reader's knowledge of the racial disparities McKinstry grew up enduring, the additions will read as repetitive or informative. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

McKinstry pinpoints the date and time she came of age as September 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m., when the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed, killing four young girls. She saw the rubble of the girl�s bathroom in which, unbeknownst to her at the time, her four friends were killed. She herself had only moments earlier been in the bathroom with the girls, primping and laughing. McKinstry alternates her account of the day and recollections of childhood in segregated Birmingham, growing up in a loving family in a protective community. She recalls other milestones as she grew up in the South�Martin Luther King�s visit to Birmingham, the Little Rock Nine, the murder of Emmett Till�and her years of living with depression and survivor�s guilt. She remained silent about the trauma, treating her depression with alcohol until she finally had a spiritual breakthrough and later helped to restore the church and make it a historic site. A compelling look at a horrendous act of terrorism and how it changed the life of one young girl. --Vanessa Bush

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (January 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414336365
• ISBN-13: 978-1414336367
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (300 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > South
  • #35 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties
  • #45 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Asian

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book! January 31, 2011

By S. Seaman

Format:Hardcover

This memoir, written by a survivor of a Klan-planted bomb that went off in her church and killed four of her teenage girlfriends, both inspired and educated me. Carolyn Maull McKinstry tells of growing up in Birmingham (called "Bombingham" by many at the time) and how the tragic bombing of September 15, 1963 shaped her life for years to come. And though this tragedy occured in church, she looked to Jesus to heal her and help her forgive.

This well-written personal story contains a timeline, photos, copies of Jim Crow Laws and excerpts of speeches from Martin Luther King, Jr., John Kennedy and Governor George Wallace. It is very helpful in getting an overall picture of the segregated south and the Civil Rights Movement.

I plan to use the book when teaching about the Civil Rights movement in our homeschool.

Tyndale House provided me with a review copy of this book which is no way influenced my review.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars While The World Watched February 15, 2011

By Love in the Truth

Format:Hardcover

"Not many young people can pinpoint the exact date, time, and place they grew up and became an adult. I can. It was September 15, 1963, 10:22 a.m., at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama."

While the World Watched by Carolyn Maull McKinstry (with Denise George) is a moving memoir of horror and forgiveness. What struck me almost every page is that this happened less than 50 years ago. The title kept being played in my head with the question, "How could the world simply let this happen?"

The book details the accounts of the murders of Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley who died when Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed. More than that though, it details the struggles of of the civil rights movement through the eyes of the author. It is simply an amazing account of two wars. One, the fight for equality for Black America, and two, the fight for meaning in the heart of a young girl who was forever changed in a moment.

I have to admit that I did not think I would enjoy this book. I assumed it would be of the "all whites are evil" variety. It was nothing of the sort. There was horror, but there was also hope. There was tragedy, but there was also triumph. There was hatred, but it was not ultimately returned - there was forgiveness.

As I finished, the same question continues to haunt me, "How could this happen?" And yet tragedy continues to flourish and the world still remains silent. But that, is for another post.

A couple of theological issues aside, my children will be reading this book; they will not forget, and they will never simply "watch".

Love in the Truth.

Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

31 of 38 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative and thought provoking June 30, 2011

By Miss Cindy

Format:Hardcover

While the world watched by Carolyn Maul McKinstry. It wasnt' my favorite story. Being as I was not alive during the civil rights nightmare of the 60's I was reading history I knew very little about. Historically I was facinated by the story and disheartened by how little was done for so very long... But the story was difficult to follow. She went in no particular order and I was constantly wondering where this event fit in the overall story. I had to often refer to the timeline in the front of the book. I also felt the placement of letters or excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were distracting. She quoted so many of his speeches, yet not always by the copy of the speech. Maybe an appendix in the back of the book, listing his speeches would have been better? A good read for the historical facts and first hand accounts from Carolyn Maul McKinstry a surviver of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing.