“The 5th Little Girl” of the 1963 16th Street Church Bombing and Civil Rights Icon to Appear in Atlantic County

(Pleasantville) NAACP Atlantic City and Mainland Chapters in conjunction with Mount Zion Baptist Church, The African American History Museum of Atlantic City and The Anti-Defamation League of South Jersey are proud to sponsor  “An Evening With Sarah Collins Rudolph,” also known as “The Fifth Little Girl” and survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama which killed her sister, Addie Mae Collins, and three friends, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair.

The event is open to all and will take place on Tuesday, May 28th at 6:00PM in the WinSan Center at the Mount Zion Baptist Church, 353 S. New Road in Pleasantville, New Jersey.

“The evening with Mrs. Rudolph offers South Jersey a rare opportunity to mine the story of the crisis and courage of the Civil Rights Era. Mrs. Rudolph’s life, though neither expectedly nor willingly, changed the course of the Movement while attending Sunday School that tragic morning. Her life reminds us that America can change and cautions us to remember this nation belongs to all of us, not just the custodians of white power and privilege,” says Reverend Willie D. Francois III, Pastor of the Mount Zion Baptist Church.

“The 1963 Church bombing marked a watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Even the most cynical could no longer turn a blind eye to the brutality which was taking place in our country and had now claimed the lives of four little girls and left a “5th Little Girl” permanently blind in one eye. Atlantic County is extremely fortunate that Mrs. Rudolph has chosen to honor us with her presence and offer a glimpse inside the Church that fateful morning and inside her life in the aftermath which was to follow,” says Olivia Caldwell, President of the NAACP Mainland Chapter.

Mrs. Rudolph will also be speaking to high school students at Atlantic City High School the following morning.

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