JOHN BIGGERS American, 1924 – 2001

Birmingham… Children of the Morning, 1964

Linoleum cut, ed. 10/12

© John T. Biggers Estate / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY,

Estate Represented by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery

Acquired with funds from the Board of Visitors

Muscarelle Museum of Art Endowment

2019.004

John Biggers created this print following the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, documenting the four young lives lost that September morning. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described the planned attack as “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.” The four girls, Addie Mae Colling (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11), are thoughtfully rendered by Biggers in silhouette, shown approaching the church for Sunday School.