Congress to recognize victims of 16th Street Baptist church bombing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Congressional leaders will hold a ceremony Sept. 10 in Washington to bestow the Congressional Gold Medal on the four girls killed by a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. The ceremony in the National Statuary Hall at the Capitol will come five days before the 50th anniversary of the explosion on Sept. 15, 1963. Congress voted earlier this year to bestow the medal on Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. All were 14 years old except for McNair, who was 11. Family members of the girls were in Washington in May when President Barack Obama signed the legislation providing the gold medal, and they plan to be back for the ceremony next month.