Following the bombing, the 16th Street Baptist Church remained closed for over eight months, as assessments and, later, repairs were conducted upon the property. [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.[4]. [92][93], In 1995, ten years after Chambliss died, the FBI reopened their investigation into the church bombing. Sims and Farley had been riding home from an anti-integration rally which had denounced the church bombing. [91] In the years since his incarceration, Chambliss had been confined to a solitary cell to protect him from attacks by fellow inmates. Rudolph, known as the "Fifth Little Girl" for surviving the. Most crucially, Blanton can also be heard saying that he was not with Miss Vaughn but, two nights before the bombing, was at a meeting with other Klansmen on a bridge above the Cahaba River. Heres a look at the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four African-American girls during church services in 1963. If you're looking for a beautiful place to travel to this summer, look no further than Spain. [59] These witness statements specifically indicated that a white man had exited the car and walked toward the steps of the church. 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. [96] The following day, both men surrendered to police. [12] The city had no black police officers or firefighters[12] and most black residents could expect to find menial employment in professions such as cooks and cleaners. 16th Street Baptist Church interior after the bombing . Updated Oval photographs and brief biographies of the four girls killed in the explosion, the most seriously injured survivor (Sarah Collins), and the two teenage boys who were shot to death later that day also adorn the base of the sculpture. A section of wire and remnants of red plastic were discovered there, which could have been part of a timing device. [105], The trial lasted for one week. Birmingham Public Library. "[24] Another witness to testify was William Jackson, who testified as to his joining the KKK in 1963 and becoming acquainted with Chambliss shortly thereafter. It was declared a national historic landmark in 2006. Cross testified that each girl present had been taught to contemplate how Jesus would react to affliction or injustice, and they were asked to learn to consider, "What Would Jesus Do? But when an read more, The Church of England, or Anglican Church, is the primary state church in England, where the concepts of church and state are linked. Investigative records show that Rowe had twice failed polygraph tests when questioned as to his possible involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and two separate, non-fatal explosions. [38] Another sister of Addie Mae Collins, 16-year-old Junie Collins, would later recall that shortly before the explosion, she had been sitting in the basement of the church reading the Bible and had observed Addie Mae Collins tying the dress sash of Carol Denise McNair before she returned upstairs to the ground floor 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. September 17, 2013. 1965 - Suspects emerge: Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss and Herman Frank Cash, all Ku Klux Klan members. - Riots break out, and two African-American boys, Virgil. In attendance were major leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King Jr.[69] This legislation prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin; to ensure full, equal rights of African Americans before the law. 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. 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. [131], I remembered the bombing of that Sunday School at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963. On 21 November 1974, two bombs ripped through the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs in Birmingham, killing 21 and injuring 220. November 18, 1977 - Chambliss is convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment. September 16, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy responds by saying, 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 steps toward peaceful progress before more lives are lost., September 16, 1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holds a press conference in Birmingham, Alabama, saying that the US Army ought to come to Birmingham and take over this city and run it.. In this speech, Morgan lamented: "Who did it [the bombing]? Now the Jury Must Decide", "Bobby Frank Cherry, 74, Klansman in Bombing, Dies", "Gary T. Rowe Jr., 64, Who Informed on Klan In Civil Rights Killing, Is Dead", "Long Fight Predicted In Case Against Rowe", "Paid FBI Informer Tells Of Murder, Silence", "Memorial Dedicated For Church Bombing Victims On Anniversary", "Siblings of the bombing: Remembering Birmingham church blast 50 years on", "Girl Living in Darkness After Church Bombing", "Alabama church bombing victims honoured by Welsh window", "American civil rights: the Welsh connection", "Death spares scrutiny of Cash in bomb probe", "Pastor Was At Church When Bomb Killed Four", United States Government Publishing Office, "A History of American Protest: When Nina Simone Sang what Everyone was Thinking", "American Guernica, LKM Music - Hal Leonard Online", "Still Reeling From the Day Death Came to Birmingham", "Television Review: A Father's Guilt; A Son's Wrenching Decision", "That Which Might Have Been, Birmingham 1963 - Phoenix, Arizona - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com", "Memorial project for 16th Street Baptist Church bombing raises $200,000 of $250,000 goal", "Four Spirits unveiled across from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church", "Four Spirits Statue, Memorial to 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Victims, Unveiled", Details of Robert Chambliss's 1979 appeal against his conviction, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)", List of lynching victims in the United States, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing&oldid=1131172578, African-American history in Birmingham, Alabama, Attacks on religious buildings and structures in the United States, Massacres in religious buildings and structures, Racially motivated violence against African Americans, September 1963 events in the United States, Terrorist incidents in the United States in 1963, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2023, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. The city of Birmingham, Alabama, was founded in 1871 and rapidly became the states most important industrial and commercial center. Show all. Original caption: Alabama-Birmingham-bombings-Body being removed at 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. 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. Kay Ivey. 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. [39], Violence escalated in Birmingham in the hours following the bombing, with reports of groups of black and white youth throwing bricks and shouting insults at each other. [127] In this role, Rowe acted as an agent provocateur between 1961[128] and 1965. [59] Although he met with initial resistance from the FBI,[48]:278 in 1976 Baxley was formally presented with some of the evidence which had been compiled by the FBI, after he publicly threatened to expose the Department of Justice for withholding evidence which could result in the prosecution of the perpetrators of the bombing.[74]. Firefighters and ambulance attendants remove a body from the church. "[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. 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. [48]), Chambliss was questioned by the FBI on September 26. September 15, 1963 - Four girls are killed and 14 injured in a bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. [90], Robert Chambliss died in the Lloyd Noland Hospital and Health Center on October 29, 1985, at the age of 81. [44][46]), Some civil rights activists blamed George Wallace, Governor of Alabama and an outspoken segregationist, for creating the climate that had led to the killings. Three Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted of murder. Mourners embrace at the funeral. Following these closing arguments, the jury retired to consider their verdicts. Both the church and the bereaved families received an estimated $23,000 in cash donations from members of the public. [36] She had 21 pieces of glass embedded in her face and was blinded in one eye. August 3, 2016 - Blanton, the last living convicted bomber, is denied parole. [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. [124] Cherry remained stoic as the sentence was read aloud. In spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not become bitter We must not lose faith in our white brothers. He had repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, insisting Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. was the actual perpetrator. In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects. About the recordings made as Blanton conversed with Burns, Robbins emphasized that Burns had earlier testified that Blanton had never expressly said that he had made or planted the bomb. [30] Another victim was killed by a piece of mortar embedded in her skull. Don Cochran disputed this position, arguing that Alabama law provides for "conspiracies to conceal evidence" to be proven by both inference and circumstantial evidence. Her sister was one of the girls who died. In his closing argument for the prosecution, Don Cochran said the victims' "Youth Sunday [sermon] never happened because it was destroyed by this defendant's hate. (Thomas Blanton had owned a Chevrolet in 1963;[106] neither Chambliss, Cash nor Cherry had owned such a vehicle. He became a paid FBI informant in 1961. 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. (Sims and Farley were later convicted of second-degree manslaughter,[45] although the judge suspended their sentences and imposed two years' probation upon each youth. [101], The most crucial piece of evidence presented at Blanton's trial was an audio recording secretly taped by the FBI in June 1964, in which Blanton was recorded discussing his involvement in the bombing with his wife, who can be heard accusing her husband of conducting an affair with a woman named Waylen Vaughn two nights before the bombing. [130] These polygraph results had convinced some FBI agents of Rowe's culpability in the bombing. I haven't done anything! [60][61] At the time, no federal charges were filed against Chambliss or any of his fellow conspirators in relation to the bombing. I did not see it happen, but I heard it happen and I felt it happen, just a few blocks away at my father's church. February 20, 2006 - The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is declared a national historic landmark. 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. September 26, 1977 - Chambliss, 73, a retired auto mechanic, is indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on four counts of first-degree murder. It was meant to suck the hope out of young lives, bury their aspirations, and ensure that old fears would be propelled forward into the next generation. Robinson, aged 16, was shot in the back by a policeman as he fled down an alley,[41] after ignoring police orders to halt. [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. appreciated. [11], The three-story 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil rights activities through the spring of 1963. [47], The city of Birmingham initially offered a $52,000 reward for the arrest of the bombers. Though Birminghams white supremacists (and even certain individuals) were immediately suspected in the bombing, repeated calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice went unanswered for more than a decade. 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. [64] This information was relayed to the Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover;[65] however, no prosecutions of the four suspects ensued. In a speech conducted before the burials of the girls, King addressed an estimated 3,300[54] mournersincluding numerous white peoplewith a speech saying: This tragic day may cause the white side to come to terms with its conscience. 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.". 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. Although the FBI had concluded in 1965 that the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had been committed by four known Klansmen and segregationists: Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry,[6] no prosecutions were conducted until 1977, when Robert Chambliss was tried and convicted of the first-degree murder of one of the victims, 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair. This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:29. [ 131 ], I remembered the bombing killed by a piece of mortar embedded in skull. A national historic landmark Who died the girls Who died Sixteenth Street Baptist church bombing that killed four African-American during! 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