16th Street Baptist Church bombing

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Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing
The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church as photographed in 1993 by the Historic American Buildings Survey
Location Birmingham, Alabama
Date September 15, 1963 (1963-09-15)
10:25 am.
Deaths 4
Injured 22
Perpetrator(s) KKK Members Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton and Robert Chambliss

The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a racially motivated terrorist attack in September 1963 by members of a Ku Klux Klan group in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. The bombing of the African-American church resulted in the deaths of four girls. Although city leaders had reached a settlement in May with demonstrators and started to integrate public places, not everyone agreed with ending segregation. Other acts of violence followed the settlement. The bombing increased support for people working for civil rights. It marked a turning point in the U.S. civil-rights movement of the mid-20th century and contributed to support for passage of civil rights legislation in 1964.

Contents

[edit] Bombing

Aftermath of the bombing
Aftermath of the bombing

The attack was intended to instill fear among Americans who had been demonstrating for an end to segregation and to disrupt court-ordered integration of public schools. Instead, the bombing caused public outrage and helped build support for civil rights legislation by the Kennedy Administration.

The three-story Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil-rights activities through the spring of 1963. The demonstrations led to an agreement in May between the city's black leaders and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to integrate public facilities in the country. Integration was the holy grail to the Civil rights movement. Seeing blacks and whites in the same place was more than just a goal, it was a representation of equality.

In the early morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Herman Cash, and Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss, members of United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group, planted 19 sticks of dynamite with a delayed-time release outside the basement of the church.[citation needed]

At about 10:22 a.m., when 26 children were walking into the basement assembly room for closing prayers after a sermon entitled "The Love That Forgives," the bomb exploded.[1] Four girls: Addie Mae Collins (aged 14), Denise McNair (aged 11), Carole Robertson (aged 14), and Cynthia Wesley (aged 14), were killed in the blast, and 22 additional people were injured.

The explosion blew a hole in the church's rear wall, destroyed the back steps, and left intact only the frames of all but one stained-glass window. The lone window that survived the concussion was one in which Jesus Christ was depicted leading young children, although Christ's face was destroyed. In addition, five cars behind the church were damaged, two of them completely destroyed, while windows in the laundromat across the street were blown out.

[edit] Victims

  • Denise McNair was born November 17, 1951, 12 at the time of her death. She was the first child of photo shop owner Chris and schoolteacher Maxine McNair. Her playmates called her Niecie. A pupil at Center Street Elementary School, she had many friends. She held tea parties, was a member of the Brownies, and played baseball. She helped raise money to support muscular dystrophy by creating plays, dance routines, and poetry readings. These events became an annual event. People gathered in the yard to watch the show in Denise’s carport, the main stage. Children donated their pennies, dimes, and nickels. Denise was a schoolmate and friend of future Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
  • Cynthia Wesley was born April 30, 1949, 14 at the time of her death, she was the first adopted daughter of Claude and Gertrude Wesley, both of whom were teachers. Her mother made her clothes because of her petite size. Cynthia went to school at Ullman High School, which no longer exists. She excelled in math, reading, and band. Cynthia held parties in her backyard for all her friends. Upon Cynthia’s death she was so mutilated the only way to identify her was by the ring she wore, which was recognized by her father.
  • Carole Robertson was born April 24, 1949, 14 at the time of her death. She was the third child of Alpha and Alvin Robinson. Her sister was Dianne and her brother was Alvin. Her father was a band master at the local elementary school. Her mother was a librarian, avid reader, dancer, and clarinet player. Carole, like her mother, enjoyed reading. She excelled at school and was a straight-A student, a member of Parker High School marching band and science club. She was also a Girl Scout and belonged to Jack and Jill of America. When she was at Wilkerson Elementary School she sang in the choir. Her legacy helped create the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Chicago, a social service agency that serves children and their families.
  • Addie Mae Collins was born April 18, 1948, 14 at the time of her death, she was the daughter of Julius Collins. Her father was a janitor and her mother a homemaker. She was one of seven children. She was also an avid softball player. A youth center dedicated to Addie and her ideals was created in Birmingham.

[edit] Aftermath

Congress of Racial Equality march in Washington DC on 22 September 1963 in memory of the victims of the Birmingham bombings. The banner, which says "No more Birminghams", shows a picture of the aftermath of the bombing.
Congress of Racial Equality march in Washington DC on 22 September 1963 in memory of the victims of the Birmingham bombings. The banner, which says "No more Birminghams", shows a picture of the aftermath of the bombing.

Outrage at the bombing and the grief that followed resulted in violence across Birmingham. By the end of the day, two more American youths had been killed. Sixteen-year-old Johnny Robinson was shot and killed by police after throwing stones at cars with white people inside. Two white teenage boys riding on a motor scooter shot 13-year-old Virgil Ware, who was on a bike with his brother.[2]

Three days after the tragedy, former Birmingham police commissioner Bull Connor inflamed tensions by saying to a crowd of 2,550 people at a Citizen's Council meeting, "If you're going to blame anyone for getting those children killed in Birmingham, it's your Supreme Court." Connor recalled that in 1954, after the Brown v. Board of Education decision had been reached, he said, "You're going to have bloodshed, and it's on them (the Court), not us." He also suggested that African Americans may have set the bomb deliberately to provoke an emotional response, saying, "I wouldn't say it's above (Dr. Martin Luther) King's crowd." {{fact|date=April 2007}They weren't all caught until 2002, 45 years later.

Following the tragic event, strangers visited the grieving families to express their sorrow. At the funeral for three of the girls (one family preferred a separate, private funeral), Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke about life being "as hard as crucible steel." More than 8,000 mourners, including 3 clergymen of all races, attended the service. No city officials attended.[3]

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ensuring equal rights of African Americans before the law.

[edit] Investigation and prosecution

Robert Chambliss was initially charged with the murders, but there was no conviction at first. Other perpetrators were identified but evidence was weak. Chambliss was convicted of having 122 sticks of dynamite without a permit. Years later investigation found that the FBI had accumulated evidence against the bombers which had not been revealed to the prosecutors, by order of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

In 1978, Alabama Attorney-General Bill Baxley successfully prosecuted Chambliss. He was convicted of the four murders and sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment. Chambliss died in prison in 1985. They were not all arrested until 45 years after the bombing.

After reopening the case several times, the FBI in 2000 assisted the state authorities in bringing charges against Bobby Frank Cherry and Thomas Blanton. Blanton and Cherry were convicted by state juries of all four murders and sentenced to life in prison. Though Cherry publicly denied involvement, relatives and friends testified that he "bragged" about being part of the bombing, and his ex-wife testified, "He said he lit the fuse."[4] Herman Cash was considered to be the fourth suspect in the bombing but died in 1994 without ever having been charged. [5]

[edit] Remembrances

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 2005
The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 2005

[edit] References

  1. ^ John Archibald, Hansen, Jeff. "Church bomb felt like 'world shaking'", Birmingham News, September 15, 1997. Retrieved on 2007-09-18. 
  2. ^ Diane McWhorter, Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. New York: Touchstone Books, 2001, p.531
  3. ^ "We Shall Overcome Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement". Retrieved on 2007-11-19. 
  4. ^ "Birmingham Bomber Bobby Frank Cherry Dies in Prison at 74", Washington Post, November 19, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-09-18. 
  5. ^ "As Church Bombing Trial Begins in Birmingham, Past is Very Much Present", New York Times, April 25, 2001. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Branch, Taylor (1988). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954 -1963. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-68742-5. 
  • Sikora, Frank (April 1991). Until Justice Rolls Down: The Birmingham Church Bombing Case. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0520-3. 
  • Cobbs, Elizabeth H.; Smith, Petric J. (April 1994). Long Time Coming: An Insider’s Story of the Birmingham Church Bombing that Rocked the World. Birmingham, AL: Crane Hill. ISBN 1-881548-10-4. 
  • Hamlin, Christopher M. (1998). Behind the Stained Glass: A History of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Birmingham, AL: Crane Hill.

[edit] External links