While the world watched : a Birmingham bombing survivor comes of age during the civil rights movement Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-301).

Introduction -- Timeline -- Too great a burden to bear -- Highway in and halfway out -- The strong one -- The bomb heard 'round the world -- Life is but a vapor -- Four little coffins -- The aftermath -- The world was silent -- "It's time!" -- D-day -- Double D-day -- The most dangerous racist in America -- The battle continues -- Servant, heal thyself -- Bombingham -- Will the violence ever end? -- The deaths of the dreamers -- Je-Romeo -- Turning points -- The first arrest -- Back to Birmingham -- The calling -- The Cherry trial -- Epilogue -- Sample Jim Crow laws -- Letter from Barack Obama to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

On September 15, 1963, a Klan-planted bomb went off in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Fourteen-year-old Carolyn Maull was just a few feet away when the bomb exploded, killing four of her friends in the girl's rest room she had just exited. 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. While the World Watched is a poignant and gripping eyewitness account of life in the Jim Crow South - from the bombings, riots and assassinations to the historic marches and triumphs that characterized the Civil Rights movement. A uniquely moving exploration of how racial relations have evolved over the past 5 decades, While the World Watched is an incredible testament to how far we've come and how far we have yet to go.