April 24 saw the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approve awarding the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to Addie Mae Collins, Carol Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, all 14; and Denise McNair, 11 – the four young girls killed when Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed on September 15, 1963. The Senate approved the bill in similar fashion on May 9.
Today, as Birmingham mayor William Bell, Rep. Terri Sewell, and relatives of the four girls among those as witnesses, President Obama’s signature made it official.
The photo above was posted to the congresswoman’s fan page on Facebook early Friday evening, May 24, and it also appears with the story filed by NPR and attributed to the Getty Images pool.