[11], The three-story 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil rights activities through the spring of 1963. A later report stated: "By 1965, we had [four] serious suspectsnamely Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry, all Klan membersbut witnesses were reluctant to talk and physical evidence was lacking. The city of Birmingham, Alabama, was founded in 1871 and rapidly became the states most important industrial and commercial center. [99]:ch. Throughout the trial, Cherry's defense attorney, Mickey Johnson, repeatedly observed that many of the prosecution's witnesses were either circumstantial or "inherently unreliable".
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September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. 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. Three former Ku Klux Klan members are eventually convicted of murder for the bombing. (Upon cross-examination by defense attorney Art Hanes Jr., Cantrell conceded that Chambliss had emphatically denied bombing the church. [11] The work these Civil Rights activists were engaged in within Birmingham was crucial to the movement as the Birmingham campaign was seen as guidance for other cities in the South with regards to rising against segregation and racism. 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. Barbara Ann Cross also testified for the prosecution. 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. Cochran also added that although the evidence to be presented would not conclusively show that Cherry had personally planted or ignited the bomb, the combined evidence would illustrate that he had aided and abetted in the commission of the act. [106] The defense portrayed the audiotapes introduced into evidence as the statements of "two rednecks driving around, drinking" and making false, ego-inflating claims to one another. Kay Ivey. [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. In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects.
The tragic 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, helped set America on a course toward passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On May 15,[123] 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. 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. 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. [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. Heres a look at the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four African-American girls during church services in 1963. "[112], Blanton was sentenced to life imprisonment. 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. 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.
Two other Klansmen were prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and 2002. WebSeptember 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. This page was last edited on 4 April 2023, at 16:31. The files were sealed by order of J. Edgar Hoover. 2. On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. KKK members had routinely called in bomb threats intended to disrupt civil rights meetings as well as services at the church. 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.[146]. 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. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. WebBIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Shortly before four dead bodies are rushed into Hillman Emergency Clinic at University Hospital Betty Ruth Speir, a medical resident, notices Although no city officials attended this service,[55] an estimated 800 clergymen of all races were among the attendees. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Although this donation was accepted,[50]:274 Martin Luther King Jr. is known to have sent Wallace a telegram saying, "the blood of four little children is on your hands.
Following the closing arguments, the jury retired to begin their deliberations, which lasted for over six hours and continued into the following day. ), 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. [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. He said this past was not the evidence upon which they should return their verdicts.
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963 by white supremacist terrorists. Spanning from the Pyrenees to the Medi [29] The explosion was so intense that one of the girls' bodies was decapitated and so badly mutilated that her body could be identified only through her clothing and a ring. [48]:386 On September 29, he was indicted upon charges of illegally purchasing and transporting dynamite on September 4, 1963. The day following the bombing, a young white lawyer named Charles Morgan Jr. addressed a meeting of businessmen, condemning the acquiescence of white people in Birmingham toward the oppression of Blacks. [98] The following day, both men surrendered to police. June 26, 2020 - Blanton dies in prison of natural causes, according to a statement released by Alabama Gov. Webby Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. September 18, 1963, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. Her sister was one of the girls who died. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the children killed in the 1963 bombing of Birminghams 16th Street Baptist Church, died Sunday at age 93. In May 2000, the FBI publicly announced their findings that the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had been committed by four members of the KKK splinter group known as the Cahaba Boys.
[17], In response to the church bombing, described by the Mayor of Birmingham, Albert Boutwell, as "just sickening", the Attorney General dispatched 25 FBI agents, including explosives experts, to Birmingham to conduct a thorough forensic investigation. Search instead in Creative? It was later revealed that the FBI had information concerning the identity of the bombers by 1965 and did nothing. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! "[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. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into effect the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Crucial testimony at Cherry's trial was delivered by his former wife, Willadean Brogdon, who had married Cherry in 1970. One of the defense witnesses was a retired chef named Eddie Mauldin, who was called to testify to discredit prosecution witnesses' statements that they had seen Blanton in the vicinity of the church before the bombing. Although Cash is known to have passed a polygraph test in which he was questioned as to his potential involvement in the bombing, The Reverend John Cross, who had been the pastor of the 16th Street Baptist Church at the time of the 1963 bombing, died of natural causes on November 15, 2007. 1994 - Cash dies without being charged in the bombing. Officially, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing remained unsolved until after William Baxley was elected Attorney General of Alabama in January 1971. [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.
More than 20 other members of the congregation were injured in the blast. At least 14 others are
He said that the sections introduced as evidence were of poor audio quality, resulting in the prosecution presenting text transcripts of questionable accuracy to the jury. 
WebAddie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair were killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. The 16th Street Baptist Church served as a rallying point during the civil rights movement. From the archive, 24 May 1961: Martin Luther King unmoved by death threats. [133], I remembered the bombing of that Sunday School at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963.
Birmingham, 1963 Carole Boston Weatherford 4.36 207 ratings56 reviews A poetic tribute to the victims of the racially motivated church bombing that served as a seminal event in the struggle for civil rights. WebTwo more Black youths, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware, were shot to death in Birmingham within seven hours of the Sunday morning bombing. 16th Street Church Bombing Part 31 of 51 View. WebRacism and support for racial segregation. [21] The anonymous caller simply said the words, "Three minutes"[22]:10 to Maull before terminating the call. [40] Police urged parents of Black and white youths to keep their children indoors, as the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, ordered an additional 300 state police and 500 Alabama National Guardsmen to assist in quelling unrest. ), Both counsels delivered their closing arguments before the jury on May 1. Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. was brought to trial in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett on April 24, 2001. September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. Did you encounter any technical issues? Other witnesses obtained identified Chambliss as the individual who had placed the bomb beneath the church. November 18, 1977 - Chambliss is convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment. [75]:497 This testimony of witnesses and evidence was used to formally construct a case against Robert Chambliss. He referred to testimony given by her father, Chris McNair, about the family's loss, and requested that the jury return a verdict of guilty.[86]. It's never too late for a man to be held accountable for his crimes." [64], The FBI encountered difficulties in their initial investigation into the bombing. Though Cash died in 1994, Cherry and Blanton were arrested and charged with four counts of murder in 2000. [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. "[45], Two more Black youths, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware, were shot to death in Birmingham within seven hours of the Sunday morning bombing.
[30] Another victim was killed by a piece of mortar embedded in her skull. AP 1963 Birmingham church bombing From left, 11-year-old Denise McNair 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. On May 21, 2002, both prosecution and defense attorneys delivered their closing arguments to the jury. The medal honors the girls sacrifice and how it served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. Following these closing arguments, the jury retired to consider their verdicts. September 15, 2013, marked the 50th anniversary of the bombing. Jones is white, and a lifelong September 26, 1977 - Chambliss, 73, a retired auto mechanic, is indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on four counts of first-degree murder.
[50]), Chambliss was questioned by the FBI on September 26. He said that Cherry had signed an affidavit in the presence of the FBI on October 9, 1963, confirming that he, Chambliss, and Blanton were at these premises on this date.[125]. The other victims were Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson. [92], Robert Chambliss died in the Lloyd Noland Hospital and Health Center on October 29, 1985, at the age of 81.
1976 - Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley reopens the case. [111] When asked by the judge whether he had anything to say before sentence was imposed, Blanton said: "I guess the Lord will settle it on Judgment Day. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured. Petts then elaborated that the inspiration for the stained-glass image was a verse from the, On the 27th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, a state historic marker was unveiled at Greenwood Cemetery, the final resting place of three of the four victims of the bombing (Carole Robertson's body had been reburied in Greenwood Cemetery in 1974, following the death of her father).
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