While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement

Fifteen-year-old Carolyn Maull McKinstry was just a few feet away when the Klan-planted bomb that killed four of her friends exploded in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It was one of the seminal moments in the Civil Rights movement, a sad day in American history . . . and the turning point in a young girl’s life.

Carolyn’s story is a poignant and gripping eyewitness account of what it was like to grow up in the Jim Crow South — from the bombings, riots, and assassinations to the historic marches and triumphs that characterized the Civil Rights era.

A unique and moving exploration of how racial relations have evolved over the past five decades, While the World Watched is an incredible testament to how far we’ve come — and how far we have yet to go.