Barbara Cross

Barbara Cross

Barbara Cross is the oldest of four children born to Rev. and Mrs. John Cross. In June 1962, Barbara and her family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where her father became pastor of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded at their church and four little girls were killed. A graduate of Tuskegee University and a retiree of Bell South Services, Ms. Cross worked 30+ years in customer and network services. Ms. Cross has been a guest on Montel and on Oprah, and appeared with her father in Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated documentary “4 Little Girls.” She served as a caregiver for her father from 2003 until his death in 2007, and she keeps the legacy of her dad alive through writing and speaking. Currently, Ms. Cross is a substitute teacher with DeKalb County Schools, Decatur, Georgia.

“A Love That Forgives”

In June 1962, my family moved to Birmingham, Alabama. My father was called to pastor the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. As a 12-year-old, I felt excited from moving from my birthplace, Richmond, Virginia. to a new city and the opportunity to meet new friends and experience life in a new city. Little did I know that the move to Birmingham would literally change our lives forever.

My father got involved immediately upon our move with the Alabama Christian Human Rights Movement and was asked by their leadership if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., could use the church as a place for civil rights meetings, which I did not realize until many years later.

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