MLK Jr. breakfast will feature Civil Rights activist
By Staff Reports
Published in News on January 17, 2015 10:32 PM
The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day prayer breakfast will feature a woman who has seen, first hand, the impact of the Civil Rights movement.
Rev. Dr. Carolyn Maull McKinstry, who was present during the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963, will speak about unity and the importance of people working together regardless of race -- and will also talk about her personal experience throughout the Civil Rights movement and share stories about her life.
"She was in the bathroom when the church was bombed," said Community Affairs Director LaTerrie Ward. "That's the only way she survived."
Rev. Dr. McKinstry had already attempted to come speak in Goldsboro on Martin Luther King Jr. Day prior to her appearance scheduled for Monday.
"She was on tap for last year but her doctor told her she needed to stay off her feet, so she agreed to come back this year," Mrs. Ward said.
Rev. Dr. McKinstry is a native of Birmingham, Ala., and is a graduate of Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. She received a Master of Divinity degree from Samford University's Beeson Divinity School and received an honorary doctorate degree from Samford University. She is also currently a second year doctorate of ministry student at New York Theological Seminary.
"It's inspired by Dr. King's speeches about people getting together regardless of race," Mrs. Ward said. "And this is a part of history people may not know about -- especially children."
She survived a second bombing in 1964 that destroyed a portion of her own home after the first bombing in 1963 killed four of her close friends.
The Rev. Dr. McKinstry was eventually subpoenaed to appear in court against one of the men that bombed the church, which led to his conviction in 2002.
She has shared her experiences with several major media outlets and television stations and penned a memoir entitled, "While the World Watched."
The breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m. with and the program starting at 9 a.m. on Monday at 211 W. Hooks River Road in the Goldsboro-Raleigh District Assembly.
Tickets for the event are $15 and are being sold in the Community Affairs Department at Goldsboro City Hall.