Carolyn McKinstry, author and civil rights foot soldier, will give a free, public lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. The event is presented by the UAB African-American Faculty Association as part of their recognition of 50 Years Forward, a collaboration with the City of Birmingham to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the seminal events of the civil rights movement. The event will take place in the auditorium of the School of Nursing, 1701 University Blvd.
McKinstry is the author of “While the World Watched,” a memoir that chronicles her life growing up in Birmingham and her experiences during the civil rights movement. She has served as president of the board of directors of the 16th Street Foundation Inc., which works to maintain the historic 16th Street Baptist Church. She also served, with attorney Chervis Isom, as chair of the Four Spirits Committee to raise funds for the construction of the Four Spirits monument to honor the four girls killed in the 1963 church bombing.
McKinstry serves as associate minister at Trinity Baptist Church. She received her bachelor’s degree from Fisk University and a master’s of divinity degree from Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. She is in her second year of pursuing her doctorate of ministry student at New York Theological Seminary.