Denise McNair was a schoolmate of Condoleezza Rice in Birmingham, Alabama. McNair was killed at age 11 in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on September 15, 1963, along with Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson. Rice was eight years old at the time. The bombing by white supremacists (later identified as members of the Ku Klux Klan) was one of the most horrific acts of the civil rights era. Rice has spoken about how the murder of her schoolmate shaped her worldview and her understanding of the importance of institutions and the rule of law. The tragedy was formative — growing up amid racial violence in Birmingham was central to Rice's identity and her later emphasis on democracy promotion.