Mom's Tree House

Hate, Mistrust, Love, Fear, Life, Hope, Death, Forgiveness, Loss, Addiction, Black and White were the things Carolyn Maull McKinstry saw and experienced while growing up in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama.  On September 15, 1963, Carolyn lost four of her friends at the Sixteen Street Baptist Church, she was there. “Three minutes” the voice said as she answered the church office phone and then…. the bomb went off. Carolyn survived, and her life was never the same.

Carolyn Maull McKinstry has now put into words those experiences in her book as While The World Watched. Carolyn gives a heartfelt description of growing up in Birmingham (Bombingham) Alabama during the Jim Crow Laws.  Coming from an educated family, her parents tried to shield her from what was going on in the world by simply imposing strict rules.  In her family, the laws were the rules of their home, when she questioned why she couldn’t go some where her parents would say thay they were unable to afford such luxuries but, it was not until the bombing, the day she grew up, did Carolyn open her eyes to see what her parents were protecting her from, the reality of being black in a racist world.

This book tells of her personal journey after the bombing. Carolyn  writes in detail the events in history that took place, how it effected her, and how she coped. She describes the Jim Crow laws, the inequality between whites and blacks and the struggle for Civil Rights. Carolyn also includes excerpts of speeches that were said during that time by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  President John F. Kennedy as well as the racist governor of Birmingham, George Wallace .

Carolyn also takes us down her own personal dark path of depression and alcoholism as she grows in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and later, how she truimphs to overcome her past, her memories. This is a remarkable book, bringing sight and understanding , it teaches us the  pain and outcome of prejudice.

I highly recommend this book for everyone. The book itself is an easy read making it suitable  for young readers and captivating enough for any mature  audience. You can purchase your copy at any bookstore or online at Amazon. Simply, While The World Watched is a must read, PERIOD!

About the Author

Carolyn Maull McKinstry is a survivor of the Civil Rights struggle and an eyewitness to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church  bombing. As a teenager, she marched under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and bravely faced Bull Connor’s German shepherds and stinging fire hoses during the battle for equal rights in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.

Now, nearly fifty years after the bombing, Carolyn is still an active member of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, serves as president of the Sixteenth Street Foundation, and works full time spreading her message of racial reconciliation.

A highly sought-after speaker, she has appeared on Oprah, 20/20, CNN, and MSNBC, and portions of her story have been featured in Life magazine and USA Today. She has made numerous television and documentary appearances, including Spike Lee’s documentary Four Little Girls; Soledad O’Brien’s Black in America; Brian Williams’s Shades of Progress, Shadows of Hate; and Family Network’s We Shall Not Be Moved.

Carolyn has addressed audiences in New Delhi, Mumbai, Barcelona, and the Italian Baptist Evangelical Union in Rome, as well as the Rosa Parks Museum, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and numerous colleges and universities.

She recently received her master of divinity from Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, where she currently lives with her husband, Jerome.

 Disclosure: I received an advanced  copy of this book from Tyndale House for the purpose of this review.   No other compensation was received.  All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others. 

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