President Obama Gives Posthumous Honor To Four Girls Who Died in Church Bombing [VIDEO]

President Barack Obama honored four little black girls killed in a church bombing on Friday by signing the Congressional Gold Medal, granting them the posthumous honor, and putting them among the youngest victims in the civil rights movement.

On September 15, 1963 Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair were killed during a Sunday mass at the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

According to The Washington Post, this particular church was a central location in the fight for equal rights and became a beacon for civil rights leaders to gather, organize movements, and formulate strategies.

It was a "hub for civil rights activists in the city, and a meeting place for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. [and] Ralph Abernathy."

At the time of the bombing, a violent opposition rose when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Congress of Racial Equality began making strides in registering black voters.

Watch as the president makes his remarks and signs the documents:

"That tragic loss, that heartbreak, helped to trigger triumph and a more just and equal and fair America," said the President referring to the girl's deaths.

At the time of the bombing, President John F. Kennedy pushed Americans to move away from racial hatred.

"If these cruel and tragic events can only awaken that city and state - if they can only awaken this entire nation to a realization of the folly of racial injustice and hatred and violence - then it is not too late for all concerned to unite in the steps toward peaceful progress before more lives are lost," he said.

According the U.S. House of Representatives History, Art & Archives office, "Congress has commissioned gold medals as its highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contribution."

The first recipient to ever receive this honor was George Washington, and includes other famous historical figures such as Thomas A. Edison, Bob Hope, Walt Disney, Robert F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and Mother Theresa.