In September, students and teachers held a March for Peace at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning, which received a $1,150,000 Community Development Grant | Todd Bannor
The Carole Robertson Center for Learning — an organization that educates and empowers over 2,500 children across Chicago with a flagship site in North Lawndale — held a march for its youngest members Sept. 13. The peace march was in honor of the anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
Students and teachers on the March for Peace, in memory of the four young girls who died in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning on Friday September 13, 2024 | Todd BannorStudents and teachers on the March for Peace, in memory of the four young girls who died in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning on Friday September 13, 2024 | Todd Bannor
Bulletin board at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning on Friday September 13, 2024 | Todd Bannor
On Sept. 5, 1963, the Klu Klux Klan put a bomb under the church’s steps. When it exploded just before 11 a.m. mass, it killed four girls: 11-year-old Cynthia Wesley, and 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair and Carole Robertson, whom the learning center is named for.
The girls’ deaths drew national attention to the civil rights movement in Birmingham and became a rallying cry that, in part, led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Students and teachers on the March for Peace, in memory of the four young girls who died in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning on Friday September 13, 2024 | Todd BannorStudents and teachers on the March for Peace, in memory of the four young girls who died in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning on Friday September 13, 2024 | Todd Bannor
To spread hope and resilience 61 years after the bombing, the learning center’s infants, toddlers and pre-kindergarten students participated in the neighborhood peace march.
Students and teachers on the March for Peace, in memory of the four young girls who died in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning on Friday September 13, 2024 | Todd Bannor
Students and teachers on the March for Peace, in memory of the four young girls who died in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning on Friday September 13, 2024 | Todd Bannor
The Carole Robertson Center for Learning puts on the march yearly at the end of its annual Legacy Week, which commemorates the four girls who died in the bombing.
The Carole Robertson Center for Learning’s North Lawndale flagship site is at 3701 W. Ogden Ave.
