1963 church bombing

The 1963 church bombing was a racially motivated terrorist attack at the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963. It proved to be a turning point of the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, provoking horror and outrage that expanded the campaign to correct injustices. Many consider the event to have provided the impetus for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Early that Sunday morning, Ku Klux Klan members Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss (aka Dynamite Bob) planted 19 sticks of dynamite in the basement of the church. At about 10:25 AM, the bomb exploded. Four young girls – Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair – were killed instantly while they were freshening up in the women's lounge to serve as ushers for the morning services. 22 other members were injured in the blast, including Sarah Collins, Addie Mae's older sister. A funeral for three of the four victims¹ was attended by over 8,000 mourners, white and black, but no city officials.

The initial investigation was retarded by uncooperative local officials and a compromised Federal Bureau of Investigation. Local police first investigated the background of the victims–to determine if they had been active in the movement and thus not entirely innocent. The church custodian, an African American was questioned as a suspect. An FBI informant named singer Harry Belafonte as the organizer of the crime. Chambliss was ultimately charged for the murders, but was never convicted. Years later it was found that the FBI had accumulated evidence against the bombers, but by order of director J. Edgar Hoover, had not disclosed the evidence to prosecutors. In 1977, Chambliss was again prosecuted by Alabama Attorney-General Bill Baxley and was finally convicted for the murders and sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1985.

After reopening the case several times, in 2000 the FBI assisted the state authorities in bringing charges against Cherry and Thomas Blanton. Blanton and Cherry were convicted by state court juries and sentenced to life in prison. Cherry, who always denied his involvement, died on November 18, 2004.

The song "Birmingham Sunday", composed by Richard Farina and recorded by Joan Baez, chronicled the events and aftermath of the bombing.

4 Little Girls, Spike Lee's 1997 documentary about the bombing, was nominated for an Academy Awards for "Best Documentary".

Notes

1. Carole Robertson's mother was so put off by Martin Luther King, Jr's statement that "the apathy and complacency of many Negroes who...[do] not engage in creative protest," were responsible for the murder, that she refused to participate in the joint services. (Wiener - 2001)

References

• Branch, Taylor (1988). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954 -1963, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671687425.
• Sikora, Frank (April 1991). Until Justice Rolls Down: The Birmingham Church Bombing Case, Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817305203.
• 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 1881548104.
• Hansen, Jeff and John Archibald. (September 15, 1997) "Church bomb felt like 'world shaking'." Birmingham News.
• Wiener, Jon. (June 11, 2001) "Southern Explosure." The Nation

External links

• Online archives at the Birmingham Public Library, including the investigation and trial
• website of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.