While in jail, King wrote a letter to local white ministers justifying his decision not to call off the demonstrations in the face of continued bloodshed at the hands of local law enforcement officials. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing marked a turning point in the United States during the civil rights movement and also contributed to support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Congress. Heres a look at the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four African-American girls during church services in 1963. Continuing to maintain his innocence, Chambliss died in prison in 1985. )[16], These demonstrations and the concessions from city leaders to the majority of demonstrators' demands were met with fierce resistance by other whites in Birmingham. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. [31] The pastor of the church, the Reverend John Cross, recollected in 2001 that the girls' bodies were found "stacked on top of each other, clung together". [22]:57 Although the Cahaba Boys had fewer than 30 active members,[58] among them were Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobby Cherry. On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. READ MORE: Civil Rights Movement Timeline, https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/birmingham-church-bombing. The act of terror by four members of the KKK at the historic Black church killed four little girls: 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley and 11-year-old Denise McNair. ), Both counsels delivered their closing arguments before the jury on May 1. The bomb detonated at 10:19 a.m., killing Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collinsall 14 years oldand 11-year-old Denise McNair. [94] They unsealed 9,000 pieces of evidence previously gathered by the FBI in the 1960s (many of these documents relating to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had not been made available to DA William Baxley in the 1970s). At this service, the Reverend C. E. Thomas told the congregation: "The greatest tribute you can pay to Carole is to be calm, be lovely, be kind, be innocent. birmingham church bombing victims autopsy. Stressing that Blanton should not be judged for his beliefs, Robbins again vehemently criticized the validity and poor quality of the audio recordings presented, and the selectivity of the sections which had been introduced into evidence. All Rights Reserved. May 16, 2000 - A grand jury in Alabama indicts former Klansmen Cherry and Blanton with eight counts each of first-degree murder - four counts of intentional murder and four of murder with universal malice. [26], The explosion blew a hole measuring seven feet (2.1m) in diameter in the church's rear wall, and a crater five feet (1.5m) wide and two feet (0.61m) deep in the ladies' basement lounge, destroying the rear steps to the church and blowing a passing motorist out of his car. According to Cobbs, Chambliss had said: "It [the bomb] wasn't meant to hurt anybody it didn't go off when it was supposed to. That bomb took the lives of four young girls, including my friend and playmate [Carol] Denise McNair. His family confirmed his death Wednesday in a . This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:29. Robinson, aged 16, was shot in the back by a policeman as he fled down an alley,[41] after ignoring police orders to halt. ". (The physical description by witnesses of this person varied, and could have matched either Bobby Cherry or Robert Chambliss. Four young black girls-Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robe [95], On May 16, 2000, a grand jury in Alabama indicted Thomas Edwin Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry on eight counts each in relation to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Although no city officials attended this service,[53] an estimated 800 clergymen of all races were among the attendees. (A 1980 Justice Department report concluded that J. Edgar Hoover had blocked the prosecution of the four bombing suspects in 1965,[7] and he officially closed the FBI's investigation in 1968. All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were destroyed in the explosion. [97]:ch. In his eulogy, Dr. King said, "These children -- unoffending, innocent and beautiful -- were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, newly-inaugurated President Lyndon Johnson continued to press for passage of the civil rights bill sought by his predecessor. (Thomas Blanton had owned a Chevrolet in 1963;[106] neither Chambliss, Cash nor Cherry had owned such a vehicle. "[51] Carole Robertson was buried in a blue casket at Shadow Lawn Cemetery.[52]. The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15 was the third bombing in 11 days, after a federal court order had come down mandating the integration of Alabamas school system. All Rights Reserved. He also noted that Cherry had initially been linked to the bombing by the FBI via an informant who had claimed, fifteen months after the bombing, that she had seen Cherry place the bomb at the church shortly before the bombing. Show all. Jones repeated the most damning statements Blanton had made in these recordings, before pointing at Blanton and stating: "That is a confession out of this man's mouth. She was 93. Her sister was one of the girls who died. birmingham church bombing victims autopsy. September 17, 2013. The death of those four girls is what inspired the poem from Dudley Randall, "Ballad of Birmingham". It is a sound that I will never forget, that will forever reverberate in my ears. Martin Luther King Jr. holds a press conference in Birmingham the day after the attack. [98] It concluded that vascular dementia had impaired his mind, therefore making Cherry mentally incompetent to stand trial or assist in his own defense.[99]. He was able to build trust with key witnesses, some of whom had been reluctant to testify in the first investigation. Chambliss had been indicted by a grand jury on September 24, 1977, charged with four counts of murder, for each dead child in the 1963 church bombing. (The plastic remnants were later lost by investigators. At that point, Black Americans were forced to read more, The Orangeburg Massacre occurred on the night of February 8, 1968, when a civil rights protest at South Carolina State University (SC State) turned deadly after highway patrolmen opened fire on about 200 unarmed black student protestors. Sarah Jean Collins, 12, lost an eye in the blast. May 1, 2001 - Blanton is found guilty of first-degree murder and is sentenced to four life terms. Their deaths made all of us focus upon the ugliness of those who would punish people because of the color of their skin. Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter planted 19 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church. Seven witnesses testified on behalf of the prosecution, and two for the defense. In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects. Immediately after the blast, church members. Within days of the bombing, investigators began to focus their attention upon a KKK splinter group known as the "Cahaba Boys". She was distressed about a remark made by Martin Luther King, who had said that the mindset that enabled the murder of the four girls was the "apathy and complacency" of black people in Alabama. [73]:497 This testimony of witnesses and evidence was used to formally construct a case against Robert Chambliss. [65]), Although both Blanton and Cherry denied their involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, until his death in 1985, Robert Chambliss repeatedly insisted that the bombing had been committed by Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. Rowe had been encouraged to join the Klan by acquaintances in 1960. Within one week of being sworn into office, Baxley had researched original police files into the bombing, discovering that the original police documents were "mostly worthless". Did you know? Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Ten-year-old Sarah Collins, who was also in the restroom at the time of the explosion, lost her right eye, and more than 20 other people were injured in the blast. [75] But at a pre-trial hearing on October 18,[76] Judge Wallace Gibson ruled that the defendant would be tried upon one count of murderthat of Carol Denise McNair[76]and that the remaining three counts of murder would remain, but that he would not be charged in relation to these three deaths. Baxley noted that the day of the closing argument fell upon what would have been Carol Denise McNair's 26th birthday and that she would have likely been a mother by this date. [64] This information was relayed to the Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover;[65] however, no prosecutions of the four suspects ensued. "[63], On May 13, 1965, local investigators and the FBI formally named Blanton, Cash, Chambliss, and Cherry as the perpetrators of the bombing, with Robert Chambliss the likely ringleader of the four. [11], The three-story 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil rights activities through the spring of 1963. May 22, 2002 - Cherry is found guilty and given a sentence of four life terms. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the four Black girls killed in a 1963 Alabama church bombing, died Sunday. His famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail was published in the national press, along with shocking images of police brutality against protesters in Birmingham that helped build widespread support for the civil rights cause. [8], On Thursday, May 2, more than 1,000 students, some reportedly as young as eight, opted to leave school and gather at the 16th Street Baptist Church. 4 little girls directed by spike lee; vhs, color, 102 mins. Cochran also reminded the jury of a secretly obtained FBI recording, which had earlier been introduced into evidence, in which Cherry had told his first wife, Jean, that he and other Klansmen had constructed the bomb within the premises of business the Friday before the bombing. Johnson warned the jurors they would have to distinguish between evidence and proof. appreciated. Although Baxley knew he had insufficient evidence to charge Blanton at this stage, he intended the subpoena to frighten Blanton into confessing his involvement and negotiating a plea deal to turn state evidence against his co-conspirators. ", "Beauty from the Ashes of 16th Street Baptist Church", "The Speech That Shocked Birmingham the Day After the Church Bombing", "Ceremony recalls victim of civil rights violence", "First of 4 Birmingham Bomb Victims is Buried", "We Shall Overcome Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement", "Funeral Speakers Say Deaths Of Three Children Not In Vain", "Martin Luther King's 'Eulogy for the Martyred Children', "The ghosts of Alabama: After 37 years, two men are indicted for a bombing that transfigured the civil rights movement", "Birmingham Klansman Guilty in Dynamite Case; Two Other Defendants Face Trial Today--Dr. King Gives City an Ultimatum on Jobs", "FBI: A Byte Out of History: The '63 Baptist Church Bombing", "Murderer Of 4 Birmingham Girls Found Guilty (38 yrs later)", "Former Klansman convicted in deadly 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama church", "Cherry convicted: Jury verdict in bombing hailed as 'justice finally', "Birmingham Church Bombing Conviction Ended an Obsession of the Prosecutor", "Bill Baxley Reflects on 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing", "Former Prosecutor Says FBI Delayed Alabama Conviction", "Former Klansman Convicted In Bombing Death", "Another Redemption: Baxley in Birmingham", "Puzzle Pieces Put Together in Bombing Case", "Alabamian Guilty in '63 Blast that Killed Four Girls", "Robert E. Chambliss, Figure in '63 Bombing", "Former Klansman convicted of deadly Alabama church bombing 40 years on", "Klansman convicted of killing black girls", "As Church Bombing Trial Begins in Birmingham, the City's Past Is Very Much Present", "Former Klansman who was Key Witness at Bombing Trial Dies", "Church Bombing Verdict Hinges on how Jurors Understand Tapes", "Jury Hears More Old Tapes in Church Bombing Trial", "Birmingham church bomber guilty, gets four life terms", "Testimony Concludes in Trial On Birmingham Church Blast", "Former Klansman Convicted in 1963 Church Bombing", "Former Klansman faces prison in 1963 Killings", "1 Klansman survives Ala church bombing cases", "Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bomber up for parole next month", "16th Street Baptist Church bomber Thomas Blanton denied parole", "Thomas Blanton, Who Bombed a Birmingham Church, Dies at 82", "Witnesses Say Ex-Klansman Boasted of Church Bombing", "Design of Bomb Still Uncertain 38 Years Later", "Explosives Expert Testifies In Church Bombing Trial", "Prosecutor Says Justice 'Overdue' in '63 Bombing", "More Than Just a Racist? [100] In January 2002, Judge Garrett ruled Cherry mentally competent to stand trial and set an initial trial date for April 29. A Warner Bros. President Barack Obama would go on to sign a bill awarding the four young victims of the tragic 1963 Birmingham church bombing with the Congressional Gold Medal.. Barbara Cross, a friend of the girls who survived the church bombing, recently recalled to TIME how close she was to possibly being a fifth death. Updated Mauldin testified on April 30 that he had observed two men in a Rambler station wagon adorned with a Confederate flag repeatedly drive past the church immediately before the blast, and that, seconds after the bomb had exploded, the car had "burned rubber" as it drove away. Outrage over the death of the four young girls helped build increased support behind the continuing struggle to end segregationsupport that would help lead to the passage of both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A 16-year-old white youth named Larry Sims fired the gun (given to him by another youth named Michael Farley) at Ware, who was sitting on the handlebars of a bicycle ridden by his brother. [44] When he spotted Ware and his brother, Sims fired twice, reportedly with his eyes closed. Burns had secretly recorded several conversations with Blanton in which the latter (Blanton) had gloated when talking about the bombing, and had boasted the police would not catch him when he bombed another church. Outrage over the incident and the violent clash between protesters and police that followed helped draw national attention to the hard-fought, often-dangerous struggle for civil rights for African Americans. The files were sealed by order of J. Edgar Hoover. Just before this the church had 292 Words 2 Pages Satisfactory Essays Read More. He became a paid FBI informant in 1961. In response, local African-Americans burned businesses and fought police throughout the downtown area. After Baxley requested access to the original FBI files on the case, he learned that evidence accumulated by the FBI against the named suspects between 1963 and 1965 had not been revealed to the local prosecutors in Birmingham. ), One individual who went to the scene to help search for survivors, Charles Vann, later recollected that he had observed a solitary white man whom he recognized as Robert Edward Chambliss (a known member of the Ku Klux Klan) standing alone and motionless at a barricade. Brogdon also testified that Cherry had told her of his regret that children had died in the bombing, before adding his satisfaction that they would never reproduce. An estimated 8,000 people attended the service. Although the credibility of Brogdon's testimony was called into dispute at the trial, forensic experts conceded that, although her account of the planting of the bombing differed from that which had been discussed in the previous perpetrators' trials, Brogdon's recollection of Cherry's account of the planting and subsequent lighting of the bomb could explain why no conclusive remnants of a timing device were discovered after the bombing. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. Cross had attended the same Sunday School class as the four victims on the day of the bombing and was slightly wounded in the attack. In the closing argument for the defense, attorney Mickey Johnson argued that Cherry had nothing to do with the bombing, and reminded the jurors that his client was not on trial for his beliefs, stating: "It seems like more time has been spent here throwing around the n-word than proving what happened in September 1963. [8] When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Congress on Racial Equality became involved in a campaign to register African Americans to vote in Birmingham, tensions in the city increased. Birmingham became the center of the civil rights movement in spring 1963, when Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference arrived with a plan they called Project Cfor confrontation. Investigators also gathered numerous witness statements attesting to a group of white men in a turquoise 1957 Chevrolet who had been seen near the church in the early hours of the morning of September 15. Two more violent deaths that day Later that day, 13-year-old Virgil Ware, riding on the. However, none of these explosions had resulted in fatalities. Less than one minute later, the bomb exploded. Brogdon testified on May 16 that Cherry had boasted to her that he had been the individual who planted the bomb beneath the steps to the church, then returned hours later to light the fuse to the dynamite. He said the U.S. Army "ought to come to Birmingham and take over this city and run it.". When Governor Wallace sent police and state troopers to break the protests up, violence broke out across the city; a number of protesters were arrested, and two young African American men were killed (one by police) before the National Guard was called in to restore order. [115][116], Blanton died in prison from unspecified causes on June 26, 2020.[117]. More than 1,000 people were present at the unveiling of the memorial, including survivors of the bombing, friends of the victims and the parents of Denise McNair, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware. The Birmingham church bombing occurred on September 15, 1963, when a bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabamaa church with a. "[122] Johnson reiterated that there was no hard evidence linking Cherry to the bombing, but only evidence attesting to his racist beliefs dating from that era, adding that the family members who had testified against him were all estranged and therefore should be considered unreliable witnesses. On May 15,[121] Cross testified that prior to the explosion, she and the four girls killed had each attended a Youth Day Sunday School lesson in which the theme taught was how to react to a physical injustice. By Rowe's own later admission, while serving as an FBI informant, he had shot and killed an unidentified black man and had been an accessory to the murder of Viola Liuzzo.[129]. [108], The jury deliberated for two and a half hours before returning with a verdict finding Thomas Edwin Blanton guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. He was 82 years old. [55], Initially, investigators theorized that a bomb thrown from a passing car had caused the explosion at the 16th Street Baptist church. November 8, 2004 - Cherry dies in prison. [80] Moreover, Cobbs testified on November 16 that, on the day before the bombing, Chambliss had told her that he had in his possession enough dynamite to "flatten half of Birmingham". [79] He testified that Chambliss had visited his headquarters in 1976 and that he had attempted to affix the blame for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing upon an altogether different member of the KKK. Baxley also gathered evidence proving Chambliss had purchased dynamite from a store in Jefferson County less than two weeks before the bomb was planted,[72] upon the pretext the dynamite was to be used to clear land the KKK had purchased near Highway 101. Hanes noted conflicting testimony among several of the 12 witnesses called by the defense to testify as to Chambliss's whereabouts on the day of the bombing. [1] [2] [3] Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter planted 19 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church. Ku Klux Klan (alleged) The Birmingham riot of 1963 was a civil disorder and riot in Birmingham, Alabama, that was provoked by bombings on the night of May 11, 1963. Discovery Company. 2023 Cable News Network. The crime was calculated, not random. September 14, 2013 - A bronze and steel statue of the four girls is unveiled. The 16th Street Baptist Church served as a rallying point during the civil rights movement. The Aftermath. [76][77], Chambliss pleaded not guilty to the charges, insisting that although he had purchased a case of dynamite less than two weeks before the bombing, he had given the dynamite to a Klansman and FBI agent provocateur named Gary Thomas Rowe Jr.[78], To discredit Chambliss's claims that Rowe had committed the bombing, prosecuting attorney William Baxley introduced two law enforcement officers to testify as to Chambliss's inconsistent claims of innocence. Johnson urged the jury against convicting his client by association. "[122] Cochran outlined Cherry's extensive record of racial violence dating back to the 1950s, and noted that he had experience and training in constructing and installing bombs from his service as a Marine demolition expert. [90], Robert Chambliss died in the Lloyd Noland Hospital and Health Center on October 29, 1985, at the age of 81. Ware, aged 13, was shot in the cheek and chest with a revolver[16] in a residential suburb 15 miles (24km) north of the city. Crucial testimony at Cherry's trial was delivered by his former wife, Willadean Brogdon, who had married Cherry in 1970. [11] The intentional scope of these activities was to see the end of segregation across Birmingham and the South as a whole. Three former Ku Klux Klan members are eventually convicted of murder for the bombing. By 1963, homemade bombs set off in Birmingham's Black homes and churches were such common occurrences that the city had earned the nickname "Bombingham.". The Reverend Cross is interred at Hillandale Memorial Gardens in, Welsh craftsman and artist John Petts was inspired to construct and deliver the iconic stained-glass, The names of the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing are engraved upon the. Fifty years ago, less than a month after the 1963 March on Washington, a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, killing four young African-American girls. Mourners embrace at the funeral. NBC Universal, Inc. Four girls were killed when a bomb exploded at an Alabama church in 1963. Family and friends of Carole Robertson attend graveside services for her in Birmingham on September 17, 1963. [130] These polygraph results had convinced some FBI agents of Rowe's culpability in the bombing. The 'who' is every little individual who talks about the 'niggers' and spreads the seeds of his hate to his neighbor and his son What's it like living in Birmingham? He seldom spoke of his involvement in the bombing, shunned social activity and rarely received visitors. They forever changed the face of this state and the history of this state. [33], Between 14 and 22 additional people were injured in the explosion,[34][35] one of whom was Addie Mae's younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins. [113] Blanton was confined in a one-man cell under tight security. As late as the 1960s, however, it was also one of Americas most racially discriminatory and segregated cities. Cars parked beside the church were damaged by the blast.

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