16th Street Baptist Church bombing

history

The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a racially motivated terrorist attack on September 15, 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. 1960s Civil Rights Movement and contributed to support for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The three-story Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil-rights activities through the spring of 1963, and is where the students who marched out of the church to be arrested during the 1963 Birmingham campaign's Children's Crusade were trained. 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.

In the early morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Herman Frank Cash, and Robert Chambliss, members of United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group, planted 22 sticks of dynamite with a delayed-time release outside the basement of the church.

At about 11:22 a.m., when twenty-six children were walking into the basement assembly room for closing prayers of a sermon entitled “The Love That Forgives,” the bomb exploded According to an interview on NPR on September 15, 2008, Denise McNair's father stated that the sermon never took place because of the bombing.»Father Recalls Deadly Blast At Ala. Baptist Church : NPR 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, one of whom was Addie Mae Collins' younger sister, Sarah.

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 knocking on a door, although Christ's face was destroyed. In addition, five cars behind the church were damaged, two of which were destroyed, while windows in the laundromat across the street were blown out.

Victims

Carol Denise McNair was born November 17, 1951. At the time of her death, she was eleven years old, the youngest victim killed in the attack. She was the eldest child of photo shop owner Chris and school teacher Maxine McNair, who had two younger daughters. A pupil at Center Street Elementary School, she was a popular student who was nicknamed 'Niecie' by her friends. She , was a member of the Brownies guide organization, and enjoyed holding tea parties and playing 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 Condoleezza Rice. She is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
Cynthia Diane Wesley was born April 30, 1949. Fourteen years old 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. Her body was identified by her father due to a ring she was wearing. She is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Carole Rosamond Robertson was born April 24, 1949. She was fourteen years old at the time of her death and was the third child of Alpha and Alvin Robertson. She had one sister, Dianne, and a brother named Alvin. Her father was a band master at the local elementary school while her mother was a librarian, dancer and clarinet player. Like her mother, Carole was an avid reader. As a child she sang in the school choir and Wilkerson Elementary school. She excelled in school, achieving straight-A's, and was a member of the Parker High School marching band as well as the science club. She was also a Girl Scout and belonged to Jack and Jill of America. Her legacy helped create the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Chicago, a social service agency that serves children and their families. She is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Addie Mae Collins was born April 18, 1949. She was fourteen years old at the time of her death. Her father Julius was a janitor and her mother was a homemaker. She was one of seven children. She was also an avid softball player. After her death, a youth center dedicated to Addie and her ideals was created in Birmingham. Her younger sister Sarah was with her at the time and lost her right eye in the blast.Sack, Kevin (April 24, 2001) "»Survivor of Birmingham Church Bombing Has Few Expectations for Trial". The New York Times. Addie Mae is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

march in Washington, D.C. on September 22, 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.]]

Reactions & Aftermath

Outrage at the bombing and the grief that followed resulted in violence across Birmingham. By the end of the day, two more African-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 bike shot 13-year-old Virgil Ware, who was on a bike with his brother.Diane McWhorter, Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. New York: Touchstone Books, 2001, p.531

The city of Birmingham initially offered a $52,000 reward for the arrest of the bombers. Governor George Wallace, an outspoken segregationalist, offered an additional $5,000. However, civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wired Wallace that "the blood of four little children ... is on your hands. Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder." »http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/churches/archives1.htm

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." .

Following the tragic event, white 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 800 clergymen of all races, attended the service. No city officials attended.

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

Remembrances

The song "Birmingham Sunday", composed by Richard Farina and most famously recorded by Joan Baez, chronicled the events and aftermath of the bombing.
The song "Mississippi Goddam" was composed and sung by Nina Simone in reaction to the racially-motivated bombings.
A 1997 documentary about the bombing, 4 Little Girls, directed by Spike Lee, was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Documentary".
The song "Alabama" on John Coltrane's Live at Birdland (recorded November 18, 1963) served as an elegy to the bombing.
The song "Ronnie & Neil" on Drive-By Truckers' double album, Southern Rock Opera references the event in the opening line of the song, "Church blows up in Birmingham/ Four little black girls killed/ For no goddamned good reason."
The novel by Christopher Paul Curtis vividly conveys the events of the bombing.
The poem "The Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall
The song "American Guernica" by Adolphus Hailstork
A 2002 television drama Sins of the Father, directed by Robert Dornhelm, is based on the events of the bombing
The song "Coded Language" by Saul Williams
Four Spirits (2003), novel by Sena Jeter Naslund and play (2006) by Naslund and Elaine Hughes. The world premiere of the play was on February 7, 2008 at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
The poem "Birmingham Sunday" by Langston Hughes.
The novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison contains an allusion to this incident.
The song "Bear It Away" from the album Wandering Strange by Kate Campbell, was written to describe this incident.
Phil Ochs - Golden Ring

References

Spike Lee's movie "4 Little Girls"

External links

»Online archives at the Birmingham Public Library, including the investigation and trial
»Online History
»Additional Information

home | This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. See full license termsIt uses material from the Wikipedia article "16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing ". | compliance | March 20th 2010