Carole Robertson Day to be Celebrated at Smithfield Library

Carole Robertson

Jack and Jill of America Inc., Birmingham Chapter, and community members will celebrate Carole Robertson Day on Saturday, September 21, 2013, 10:30 a.m.–12:00p.m., at Smithfield Library. The event will look at the impact the bombing had on the community and the critical role children played in the Birmingham civil rights movement in 1963.

Carole Robertson Day is dedicated in the memory of Carole Robertson, one of four girls killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing on September 15, 1963. Robertson lived in the Smithfield community of Birmingham. At the time of her death, 14-year-old Robertson attended Parker High School and was a member of the marching band and science club. She was an avid reader and a straight "A" student.

Robertson was very active in the Birmingham chapter of Jack and Jill. Her mother, Alpha Robertson, served as regional director of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., Southeastern Region. The other three girls killed in the blast were Denise McNair, 11, and Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley, both 14. Twenty three people were injured that day.

During the September 21 event, a 20-minute video about the life of Carole will be shown. Jack and Jill will donate a custom-painted reading bench and 250 children’s books to the Smithfield Library. Mayor William A. Bell, Sr., Circuit Judge Carole Smitherman, one of Carole's relatives, and others are scheduled to speak.

Following the event, Jack and Jill students will write letters to foot soldiers, thanking them for their commitment to the movement. The letters will be given to the downtown Birmingham Public Library's Archives Department. Students will also create art projects in honor of Carole.