Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recently came to Birmingham to serve as keynote speaker during the 60th anniversary and commemoration of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four young girls in 1963.
In attendance was our CEO Dr. Connie Hill, along with her special guest – Girls Inc. Brand Ambassador, National Scholar, and current Project Accelerate participant Tiffany Davis.
Tiffany, a familiar face to our supporters, has been a member of Girls Inc. for over a decade and recently began her freshman year at Alabama State University. As a Mass Communications major, Tiffany says she was inspired by the event and hopes to contribute a story to the school paper about her experience.
Tiffany and Connie were among the many attendees who arrived early that morning to hear Justice Jackson speak. The crowd overflowed from the church, filling the streets with hundreds of people who gathered to honor the four girls and other young souls who lost their lives to senseless violence sixty years ago.
Jackson shared with the audience, “I come to Alabama with a heart filled with gratitude, for unlike those four little girls, I have lived, and have been entrusted with the solemn responsibility of serving our great nation – a service that I hope will inspire people, and especially young people, to think about what is possible, to understand the law, and to recommit themselves to the constitution and its core values, the rule of law, democracy, freedom, justice, and equality.”
Click here to watch the full commemoration service.
Justice Jackson’s words were a powerful reminder of how our nation’s history is still in the making. A child of the 70s, Jackson came of age not long after the civil rights movement. She was inspired to pursue a career in law and Jackson now serves as first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.
As we work to build the next generation of leaders in Central Alabama, we celebrate the progress that has been made and remain committed to our vision of powerful girls in an equitable society.
This story was featured in the October 2023 issue of our monthly newsletter, The Bold Bulletin. For more stories like this in your inbox, sign up below!