A peaceful demonstrator during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, Carolyn McKinstry survived several violent clashes of that era, including the white supremacist bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., on September 15, 1963. Today she speaks to young people about her experiences and has authored a memoir titled While the World Watched. McKinstry has served as Second Vice President and Program Committee Chair for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for the last six years, and she served for ten years as President of the Board of Directors of the Sixteenth Street Foundation, Inc., whose mission is the ongoing maintenance of the historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church facility. McKinstry has also been involved in numerous other volunteer activities and organizations.