Rice was eight when her schoolmate Denise McNair , aged 11 , was murdered in the bombing of the primarily black Sixteenth Street Baptist Church by white supremacists on September 15 , 1963 . Rice has commented upon that moment in her life : Rice states that growing up during racial segregation taught her determination against adversity , and the need to be " twice as good " as non-minorities . Segregation also hardened her stance on the right to bear arms ; Rice has said in interviews that if gun registration had been mandatory , her father 's weapons would have been confiscated by Birmingham 's segregationist director of public safety , Bull Connor , leaving them defenseless against Ku Klux Klan nightriders
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Condoleezza Rice