On September 15, 1963, eleven-year-old Carol Denise McNair went to 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, for Youth Day. She was in the basement with three other girls, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, getting ready for the morning service when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded beneath the church. Denise was the youngest of the four. She was known as “Niecy” to neighborhood children and was remembered as an energetic girl who loved the color yellow, played with dolls and organized games and performances for other children. Her father, Chris McNair, was a photographer, while her mother, Maxine, was a teacher and church choir member. Denise's life was far more than the tragedy that ended it. The bombing came after Birmingham had become a major battleground of the Civil Rights Movement. Black residents had challenged segregation through protests, boycotts and demonstrations, while racist violence had earned the city the nickname “Bombingham.” The attack on the church became one of the most devastating acts of that violence. Denise, Addie Mae, Cynthia and Carole were killed, and more than 20 others were injured. The aftermath exposed another painful reality. Justice did not come quickly. Robert Chambliss was not convicted until 1977, fourteen years after the bombing. Thomas Blanton was convicted in 2001, and Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted the following year. Herman Cash, another suspect, died without ever being charged. Today, the Four Spirits sculpture in Birmingham's Kelly Ingram Park memorializes the girls. It captures a moment before the bombing, with Addie Mae reaching toward Denise's dress sash as the children prepared to enter the service. The sculpture is a reminder that these were not simply names associated with a historic tragedy. They were children with families, friendships, personalities and futures that were stolen from them.