Updates? Cherry's defense attorney, Mickey Johnson, protested his client's innocence, citing that much of the evidence presented was circumstantial. Baxley also gathered evidence proving Chambliss had purchased dynamite from a store in Jefferson County less than two weeks before the bomb was planted,[74] upon the pretext the dynamite was to be used to clear land the KKK had purchased near Highway 101. The intention was to fill the jail with protesters. Although this march was met with fierce resistance and criticism, and 600 arrests were made on the first day alone, the Birmingham campaign and its Children's Crusade continued until May 5. Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. was brought to trial in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett on April 24, 2001. 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. Bobby Frank Cherry was tried in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett, on May 6, 2002. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Though Cash died in 1994, Cherry and Blanton were arrested and charged with four counts of murder in 2000. In a speech conducted before the burials of the girls, King addressed an estimated 3,300[56] mournersincluding numerous white peoplewith a speech saying: This tragic day may cause the white side to come to terms with its conscience. Cobbs also testified that approximately one week after the bombing, she had observed Chambliss watching a news report relating to the four girls killed in the bombing. 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. 1963 terrorist attack in Birmingham, Alabama 16th Street Baptist Church bombing Part of the Civil Rights movementand the Birmingham campaign The four girls killed in the bombing (clockwise from top left) Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11) Location Birmingham, Alabama Coordinates Today marks the 55th anniversary of the tragedy. Here are photos from that day: Original caption: NEWS FILE/TOM SELF Firefighters sift through rubble and search for bodies in the basement of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church after a bomb killed four girls on Sunday, September 15, 1963. They forever changed the face of this state and the history of this state. But by September 20, the FBI was able to confirm that the explosion had been caused by a device that was purposely planted beneath the steps to the church,[59] close to the women's lounge. [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. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of the four girls killed in the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church, passed away Sunday. [37] In her later recollections of the bombing, Collins would recall that in the moments immediately before the explosion, she had watched her sister, Addie, tying her dress sash. [1][2][3] Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan (KKK) chapter planted 19 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church.[4]. "[124] 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. "[124] 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. Martin Luther King Jr. described Birmingham as "probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. The first of these witnesses was Tom Cook, a retired Birmingham police officer, who testified on November 15 as to a conversation he had had with Chambliss in 1975. Bombings at Black homes[13] and institutions were a regular occurrence, with at least 21 separate explosions recorded at Black properties and churches in the eight years before 1963. [50]), Chambliss was questioned by the FBI on September 26. Four black girls. Alvin and Alpha Robertson, parents of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing victim Carole Robertson at the funeral for their daughter; Sept. 17, 1963. Relatives of the four victims openly wept in relief. Reverend Cobbs stated that her uncle had repeatedly informed her he had been engaged in what he referred to as a "one-man battle" against Blacks since the 1940s. Mr. Cherry, a 71-year-old retired truck driver, is accused of being part of a group of Klansmen who planted a bomb outside the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a rallying place for civil rights. (The first three schools in Birmingham to be integrated would do so on September 4. Despite repeated demands that the perpetrators be brought to justice, the first trial in the case was not held until 1977, when former clan member Robert E. Chambliss was convicted of murder (Chambliss, who continued to maintain his innocence, died in prison in 1985). The church was used as a meeting-place for civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth, for organizing and educating marchers. The case was again reopened in 1980, 1988 and 1997, when two other former Klan members, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry, were finally brought to trial; Blanton was convicted in 2001 and Cherry in 2002. In the film, Lee interviews witnesses to the bombing and family members of the victims while at the same time exploring the backdrop of segregation and white harassment that were central to the time period. In October 1963, Chambliss was cleared of the murder charge and received a six-month jail sentence and a $100 fine for the dynamite. "It was just a matter of time," said Pastor John H. Cross of the bombing. 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. King later spoke before 8,000 people at the funeral for three of the girls (the family of the fourth girl held a smaller private service), fueling the public outrage now mounting across the country. A fifth girl who had been with them, Sarah Collins (the younger sister of Addie Mae Collins), lost her right eye in the explosion, and several other people were injured. "Wow. I haven't done anything! Click Following these closing arguments, the jury retired to consider their verdicts. The sole stained-glass window largely undamaged in the explosion depicted Christ leading a group of young children. A well-known Klan member, Robert Chambliss, was charged with murder and with buying 122 sticks of dynamite. [8], In the years leading up to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Birmingham had earned a national reputation as a tense, violent and racially segregated city, in which even tentative racial integration in any form was met with violent resistance. [85] He expressed regret that the state was unable to request the death penalty in this case, as the death penalty in effect in the state in 1963 had been repealed. This case grew out of the September 15, 1963, bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in which four young black girls were killed and a number of other people injured as a result of the blast which left the church in shambles. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. A fourth suspect died without being charged. You by your suffering have paid another installment in this great thing called freedom," said the Rev. Sept. 19, 2020 Even though it has been more than 50 years since Ku Klux Klansmen bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Sarah Collins Rudolph said remnants from the blast. [61] These witness statements specifically indicated that a white man had exited the car and walked toward the steps of the church. Long-delayed trial of former Ku Klux Klansman Thomas Blanton Jr in fatal 1963 bombing of black Birmingham, Ala, church opens; another of 4 original suspects, Robert Chambliss, was convicted in . [126], Following the convictions of Blanton and Cherry, Alabama's former Attorney General, William Baxley, expressed his frustration that he had never been informed of the existence of the FBI audio recordings before they were introduced in the 2001 and 2002 trials. In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. had been arrested there while leading supporters of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in a nonviolent campaign of demonstrations against segregation. He had repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, insisting Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. was the actual perpetrator. Birmingham "is synonymous to barbarism" and "needs to be protected against itself," said New York City Mayor Robert Wagner. The man at right is unidentified. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. The church's pastor, the Reverend John Cross Jr., attempted to placate the crowd by loudly reciting the 23rd Psalm through a bullhorn. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. [28], Four girlsAddie Mae Collins (age 14, born April 18, 1949), Carol Denise McNair (age 11, born November 17, 1951), Carole Rosamond Robertson (age 14, born April 24, 1949), and Cynthia Dionne Wesley (age 14, born April 30, 1949)were killed in the attack. [60] By the time of the announcement, Herman Cash had also died; however, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry were still alive. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Current one is: September 15. In his closing argument, prosecuting attorney and future U.S. [102] In January 2002, Judge Garrett ruled Cherry mentally competent to stand trial and set an initial trial date for April 29. [14] These attacks earned the city the nickname "Bombingham". He was 82 years old. 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? I don't know why I'm going to jail for nothing. [61] Although he met with initial resistance from the FBI,[50]: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.[76]. [94][95], In 1995, ten years after Chambliss died, the FBI reopened their investigation into the church bombing. Corrections? Johnson urged the jury against convicting his client by association. As Birmingham took on the appearance of a battle zone, with hundreds of police, troopers and guardsmen patrolling the streets, another black teen, Johnny Robinson, was shot to death by police. Baxley acknowledged that typical juries in 1960s Alabama would have likely leaned in favor of both defendants, even if these recordings had been presented as evidence,[128] but said that he could have prosecuted Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry in 1977 if he had been granted access to these tapes. The most seriously injured survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Sarah Jean Collins, remained hospitalized for more than two months, Within two days of the church bombing, Petts had contacted then-pastor of the church, the Reverend John Cross, announcing he had launched a fundraising campaign to create this artwork via an appeal conducted through the, John Petts died in 1991 at the age of 77. From left to right: Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14. [126] Cherry remained stoic as the sentence was read aloud. [50]:272, The service for Carole Rosamond Robertson was held at St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church. The bomb injured at least 20 people and killed four young girls: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair. Maxine McNair's 11-year-old daughter, Denise McNair, was the youngest of the four Black girls killed in the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963. A fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before he could be brought to trial. here for reprint permission. [93] In the years since his incarceration, Chambliss had been confined to a solitary cell to protect him from attacks by fellow inmates. 16th Street Baptist Church interior after the bombing . In a 1987 interview focusing upon his recollections of the bombing, Petts recollected: "Naturally, as a father, I was horrified by the deaths of those children." ", "Today in 1963: The Bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church", "Justice Story: Birmingham church bombing kills 4 innocent girls in racially motivated attack", "Former Klansmen indicted for murder in 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama church", "16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (1963) (U.S. National Park Service)", "Letter From Birmingham City Jail (Excerpts)", "Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (1897-1973) (U.S. National Park Service)", "Birmingham Confrontation Reconsidered: An Analysis of the Dynamics and Tactics of Mobilization", "Ghosts of Alabama: The Prosecution of Bobby Frank Cherry for the Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church", "Memories of An Imperial City: Race, Gender, and Birmingham, Alabama", "Six Negro Children Killed in Alabama Sunday", "Former Klansman Is Guilty Of Bomb Deaths", "16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Survivors Recall a Day That Changed the Fight for Civil Rights: 'I Will Never Stop Crying Thinking About It', "Killer of Four in 1963 Blast Dies in Prison", "John Cross Jr. Pastor at Bombed Church, Dies at 82", "The Birmingham Church Bombing: Bombingham", "Remembering the Birmingham Church Bombing", "John Cross Jr., Pastor at Bombed Church, Dies at 82", "Awarding Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley", "From the archive, 16 September 1963: Black church bombed in Birmingham, Alabama", "Father Recalls Deadly Blast At Ala. Baptist Church", "1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Fast Facts", "New Memorial for 16th St. Baptist Church on Sun, 56 Years After Bombing", "16th Street Baptist Church Bombing: Forty Years Later, Birmingham Still Struggles with Violent Past", "40 years for Justice: Did the FBI Cover for the Birmingham Bombers? Saturday was the 55th anniversary of the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. The force crumbled a stone-and-masonry wall 30 inches thick and left a crater more than 2 feet deep.Retired FBI bomb specialist Charles Killion testified that agents never determined what kind of explosive was used or how the bomb was triggered. In that important sense, the bombings impact was exactly the opposite of what its perpetrators had intended. Through these rulings, Mitchell Burns was called to testify on behalf of the prosecution. These deliberations continued until the following day. In his opening statement to the jurors, defense attorney John Robbins acknowledged his client's affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan and his views on racial segregation. But, he warned the jury: "Just because you don't like him, that doesn't make him responsible for the bombing. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. "[32], The prosecution called a total of seven witnesses to testify in their case against Blanton, including relatives of the victims, John Cross, the former pastor of the 16th Street Baptist Church; an FBI agent named William Fleming, and Mitchell Burns, a former Klansman who had become a paid FBI informant. 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. An anti-integration demonstration planned in Midfield for that night was cancelled, but not before someone hanged President Kennedy in effigy before a cheering crowd. (The plastic remnants were later lost by investigators. Following the opening statements, the prosecution began presenting witnesses. [12] Black residents did not just experience segregation in the context of leisure and employment, but also in the context of their freedom and well-being. U.S. government destroying the dollars value through inflation. Original caption: Alabama-Birmingham-bombings-Body removed from 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. (J. Edgar Hoover, then-head of the FBI, disapproved of the civil rights movement; he died in 1972.). The Birmingham News. [17], Hundreds of individuals, some of them lightly wounded, converged on the church to search the debris for survivors as police erected barricades around the church and several outraged men scuffled with police. On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. 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. Their deaths made all of us focus upon the ugliness of those who would punish people because of the color of their skin. A local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan placed bombs at the 16th Street Baptist Church and set them off as Sunday services prepared to commence on the morning of September 15, 1963. 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. Within days of the bombing, investigators began to focus their attention upon a KKK splinter group known as the "Cahaba Boys". Crucial testimony at Cherry's trial was delivered by his former wife, Willadean Brogdon, who had married Cherry in 1970. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. As part of a revival effort by states and the federal government to prosecute cold cases from the civil rights era, the state placed both Blanton Jr. and Cherry on trial, who were each convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and 2002, respectively. 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. 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. Throughout the trial, Cherry's defense attorney, Mickey Johnson, repeatedly observed that many of the prosecution's witnesses were either circumstantial or "inherently unreliable". ), 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. The Birmingham campaign, the March on Washington in August, the September bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church, and the November assassination of John F. Kennedyan ardent supporter of the civil rights cause who had proposed a Civil Rights Act of 1963 on national television[71]increased worldwide awareness of and sympathy toward the civil rights cause in the United States. Blanton was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison.Klansman Robert Chambliss was convicted of murder in the bombing in 1977 and died in prison. [32] All four girls were pronounced dead on arrival at the Hillman Emergency Clinic. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. This group had previously been linked to several bomb attacks at Black-owned businesses and the homes of Black community leaders throughout the spring and summer of 1963. Alabama sidesteps compensation for survivor of 1963 KKK Birmingham church bombing. "[53] Carole Robertson was buried in a blue casket at Shadow Lawn Cemetery.[54]. Killion agreed with Mr. Johnsons suggestion that a bomb could have been tossed from a passing car rather than placed under an exterior stairway, as prosecutors suggested in a previous trial.Mr. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. "I will never stop crying thinking about it," said Cross, 68, who was 13 at the time. Of the nearly 200 congregants inside, attending Sunday school classes and preparing for the 11 a.m. service, about 22 were injured. Robbins also discredited the testimony of FBI agent William Fleming, who had earlier testified as to a government witness claiming he had seen Blanton in the vicinity of the church shortly before the bombing. Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. [57][58], As the girls' coffins were taken to their graves, King directed that those present remain solemn and forbade any singing, shouting or demonstrations. Resulting in the injury of 14 people and the death of four girls, the attack garnered widespread national outrage. Many of the civil rights protest marches that took place in Birmingham during the 1960s began at the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church, which had long been a significant religious center for the citys Black population and a routine meeting place for civil rights organizers like King. [11] Their demands included that public amenities such as lunch counters and parks be desegregated, the criminal charges against demonstrators and protestors should be removed, and an end to overt discrimination with regards to employment opportunities. This page was last edited on 20 April 2023, at 15:09. Throughout the civil rights movement, Birmingham was a major site of protests, marches, and sit-ins that were often met with police brutality and violence from white citizens.

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