Sarah Collins Rudolph, “the fifth little girl,” will be guest speaker at an event in Pleasantville, May 28.
PLEASANTVILLE – NAACP Atlantic City and Mainland Chapters in conjunction with Mount Zion Baptist Church, African American History Museum of Atlantic City and Anti-Defamation League of South Jersey will present An Evening with Sarah Collins Rudolph 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 28 in the WinSan Center at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 353 S. New Road.
At age 12, Rudolph became known as “the fifth little girl” because she is the sole survivor of the horrific 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that took place Birmingham, Alabama on Sept. 15, 1963. The blast killed her sister Addie Mae Collins and three friends, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair.
A book about her experience and her life in the aftermath was penned by author Tracy Snipe in conversation with Rudolph. It is titled, “The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing,” and published by Africa World Press.
“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,” said Rev. Willie D. Francois III, pastor of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. “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.”
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 ‘fifth little girl’ permanently blind in one eye,” Rev. Franciois said.
“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,” said Olivia Caldwell, president of the NAACP Mainland Chapter.
Rudolph will also be speaking to high school students at Atlantic City High School the following morning.
