The citys police commissioner, Eugene Bull Connor, was notorious for his willingness to use brutality in combating radical demonstrators, union members and any Black citizens. [102] He said: "You've got to have a meeting to plan a bomb. On May 15,[121] 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. Jones repeated the most damning statements Blanton had made in these recordings, before pointing at Blanton and stating: "That is a confession out of this man's mouth. At 10:22 a.m. on the morning of September 15, 1963, some 200 church members were in the buildingmany attending Sunday school classes before the start of the 11 am servicewhen the bomb detonated on the churchs east side, spraying mortar and bricks from the front of the church and caving in its interior walls. His family confirmed his death Wednesday in a . [125], When asked by the judge whether he had anything to say before sentence was imposed, Cherry motioned to the prosecutors and stated: "This whole bunch lied through this thing [the trial]. More than 1,000 people were present at the unveiling of the memorial, including survivors of the bombing, friends of the victims and the parents of Denise McNair, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware. birmingham church bombing victims autopsy. Blanton's attorneys criticized the validity and quality of the 16 tape recordings introduced as evidence,[103] arguing that the prosecution had edited and spliced the sections of the audio recording that were secretly obtained within Blanton's kitchen, reducing the entirety of the tape by 26 minutes. 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. (A 1980 Justice Department report concluded that J. Edgar Hoover had blocked the prosecution of the four bombing suspects in 1965,[7] and he officially closed the FBI's investigation in 1968. Four young black girls-Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robe The 16th Street Baptist Church served as a rallying point during the civil rights movement. [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]. [130] These polygraph results had convinced some FBI agents of Rowe's culpability in the bombing. Relatives of the four victims openly wept in relief. (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. Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. was brought to trial in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett on April 24, 2001. Lives were lost and you were defined by your skin color. [22]:57 Although the Cahaba Boys had fewer than 30 active members,[58] among them were Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobby Cherry. As a known and popular rallying point for civil rights activists, the 16th Street Baptist Church was an obvious target. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Discovery Company. Updated 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. They forever changed the face of this state and the history of this state. Both the church and the bereaved families received an estimated $23,000 in cash donations from members of the public. [73]:497 This testimony of witnesses and evidence was used to formally construct a case against Robert Chambliss. These demonstrations led to an agreement, on May 8, between the city's business leaders and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to integrate public facilities, including schools, in the city within 90 days. Chambliss had been indicted by a grand jury on September 24, 1977, charged with four counts of murder, for each dead child in the 1963 church bombing. He said the U.S. Army "ought to come to Birmingham and take over this city and run it.". 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. September 15, 1963 - Four girls are killed and 14 injured in a bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Barbara Ann Cross also testified for the prosecution. The remains of one of the four girls killed in the Birmingham, Ala., church bombing that galvanized the civil rights movement 51 years ago are missing and the victim's sister wants help locating . He had repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, insisting Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. was the actual perpetrator. Heres a look at the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four African-American girls during church services in 1963. Resulting in the injury of 14 people and the death of four girls, the attack garnered widespread national outrage. [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. At approximately 10:22a.m., an anonymous man phoned the 16th Street Baptist Church. It was declared a national historic landmark in 2006. [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 to assist in quelling unrest. Before his trial, Chambliss remained free upon a $200,000 bond raised by family and supporters and posted October 18. In the aftermath of the bombing, thousands of angry Black protesters gathered at the scene of the bombing. READ MORE: Civil Rights Movement Timeline, https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/birmingham-church-bombing. Fifty years ago, less than a month after the 1963 March on Washington, a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, killing four young African-American girls. Sarah Jean Collins, 12, lost an eye in the blast. Life is hard. 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. Addie Mae Collins, 14Denise McNair, 11Carole Robertson, 14Cynthia Wesley, 14. ", September 15, 2013, marked the 50th anniversary, girls who died are awarded Congressional Gold Medals, statement released by Alabama Gov. 1963 Birmingham church bombing From left, 11-year-old Denise McNair and 14-year-olds Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley were killed while attending Sunday services.. The bomb that demolished the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church downstairs lounge, shattered the sanctuary's stained-glass windows, hurled large chunks of stone into nearby automobiles and. 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." On the afternoon of May 22, after the jury had deliberated for almost seven hours, the forewoman announced they had reached their verdicts: Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. [118] Cherry pleaded not guilty to the charges and did not testify on his own behalf during the trial. "[9] Birmingham's Commissioner of Public Safety, Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor,[10] led the effort in enforcing racial segregation in the city through the use of violent tactics. McNair's family announced her death. Robinson died before reaching the hospital. It was September 15,1963 11:00 AM at The 16th Street Baptist Church (United States National Park Service). Today marks the 50th anniversary of the white supremacist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four young girls. "[110], Blanton was sentenced to life imprisonment. Although informative to the FBI, Rowe actively participated in violence against both black and white civil rights activists. November 18, 1977 - Chambliss is convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment. Both were arrested. A fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before he could be brought to trial. [58] By the time of the announcement, Herman Cash had also died; however, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry were still alive. [47], The city of Birmingham initially offered a $52,000 reward for the arrest of the bombers. We all did it! Upon learning of the bombing at the Church, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. sent a telegram to Alabama Governor George Wallace, a staunch and vocal segregationist, stating bluntly: 'The blood of our little children is on your hands." The brutal attack and the deaths of the four little girls . A section of wire and remnants of red plastic were discovered there, which could have been part of a timing device. As part of a revival effort by states and the federal government to prosecute cold cases from the civil rights era, the state conducted trials in the early 21st century of Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. and Bobby Cherry, who were each convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and 2002, respectively. (Thomas Blanton had owned a Chevrolet in 1963;[106] neither Chambliss, Cash nor Cherry had owned such a vehicle. She was 93. "[51] Carole Robertson was buried in a blue casket at Shadow Lawn Cemetery.[52]. 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. [46]:386 On September 29, he was indicted upon charges of illegally purchasing and transporting dynamite on September 4, 1963. [14] These attacks earned the city the nickname "Bombingham". [100] In January 2002, Judge Garrett ruled Cherry mentally competent to stand trial and set an initial trial date for April 29. Family and friends of Carole Robertson attend graveside services for her in Birmingham on September 17, 1963. It is a sound that I will never forget, that will forever reverberate in my ears. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured. The Birmingham City Council convened an emergency meeting to propose safety measures for the city, although proposals for a curfew were rejected. 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. On January 20, 1961, the handsome and charismatic John F. Kennedy became president of the United States. [31] The pastor of the church, the Reverend John Cross, recollected in 2001 that the girls' bodies were found "stacked on top of each other, clung together". His confidence that, as one historian put it, the government possessed big answers to big problems read more. Baxley also gathered evidence proving Chambliss had purchased dynamite from a store in Jefferson County less than two weeks before the bomb was planted,[72] upon the pretext the dynamite was to be used to clear land the KKK had purchased near Highway 101. That bomb took the lives of four young girls, including my friend and playmate [Carol] Denise McNair. 2. "[42] A Milwaukee Sentinel editorial opined, "For the rest of the nation, the Birmingham church bombing should serve to goad the conscience. I haven't done anything! [75] But at a pre-trial hearing on October 18,[76] Judge Wallace Gibson ruled that the defendant would be tried upon one count of murderthat of Carol Denise McNair[76]and that the remaining three counts of murder would remain, but that he would not be charged in relation to these three deaths. At the base of the sculpture is an inscription of the title of the sermon the four girls were to attend before the bombing"A Love That Forgives". He said this past was not the evidence upon which they should return their verdicts. "[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. [55][56], As the girls' coffins were taken to their graves, King directed that those present remain solemn and forbade any singing, shouting or demonstrations. This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:29. 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. 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. Ware, aged 13, was shot in the cheek and chest with a revolver[16] in a residential suburb 15 miles (24km) north of the city. A 16-year-old white youth named Larry Sims fired the gun (given to him by another youth named Michael Farley) at Ware, who was sitting on the handlebars of a bicycle ridden by his brother. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much But, he warned the jury: "Just because you don't like him, that doesn't make him responsible for the bombing. His famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail was published in the national press, along with shocking images of police brutality against protesters in Birmingham that helped build widespread support for the civil rights cause. In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects. [119] (A fishing float attached to a section of wire, which may have been part of a timing device, was found 20 feet (6.1m) from the explosion crater[85] following the bombing. [83] 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. A Warner Bros. He also noted that Cherry had initially been linked to the bombing by the FBI via an informant who had claimed, fifteen months after the bombing, that she had seen Cherry place the bomb at the church shortly before the bombing. Even though the legal system was slow to provide justice, the effect of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church was immediate and significant. May 22, 2002 - Cherry is found guilty and given a sentence of four life terms. 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.". [105], The trial lasted for one week. 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. Relatives of the slain girls, prosecutor Doug Jones, Alabama Chief Deputy Attorney General Alice Martin, and Jefferson County district attorney Brandon Falls each spoke at the hearing to oppose Blanton's parole. Although Baxley knew he had insufficient evidence to charge Blanton at this stage, he intended the subpoena to frighten Blanton into confessing his involvement and negotiating a plea deal to turn state evidence against his co-conspirators. Mourners embrace at the funeral. - Riots break out, and two African-American boys, Virgil. 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. Melanie Peeples reports. Rudolph, known as the "Fifth Little Girl" for surviving the. September 14, 2013 - A bronze and steel statue of the four girls is unveiled. Mauldin testified on April 30 that he had observed two men in a Rambler station wagon adorned with a Confederate flag repeatedly drive past the church immediately before the blast, and that, seconds after the bomb had exploded, the car had "burned rubber" as it drove away. Cook testified that Chambliss had acknowledged his guilt regarding his 1963 arrest for possession of dynamite, but that he (Chambliss) was insistent he had given the dynamite to Rowe before the bombing. All Rights Reserved. "I will never stop crying thinking about it," said Cross, 68, who was 13 at the time. Described by Martin Luther King Jr. as "one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity,"[5] the explosion at the church killed four girls and injured between 14 and 22 other people. 9:01 AM EDT, Wed September 7, 2022, A grieving relative is led away from the site of the. 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.. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into effect the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The crime was calculated, not random. 35. The 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing was a devastating event. Although the credibility of Brogdon's testimony was called into dispute at the trial, forensic experts conceded that, although her account of the planting of the bombing differed from that which had been discussed in the previous perpetrators' trials, Brogdon's recollection of Cherry's account of the planting and subsequent lighting of the bomb could explain why no conclusive remnants of a timing device were discovered after the bombing. He was never charged with his alleged involvement in the bombing and did maintain his innocence. [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. One week before the bombing, Wallace granted an interview with The New York Times, in which he said he believed Alabama needed a "few first-class funerals" to stop racial integration. [33], Between 14 and 22 additional people were injured in the explosion,[34][35] one of whom was Addie Mae's younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins. 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. [86] He was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder. Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder. Martin said: "The cold-blooded callousness of this hate crime has not diminished by the passage of time." BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the four Black girls killed in a 1963 Alabama church bombing, died Sunday. 1963 Birmingham church bombing From left, 11-year-old Denise McNair and 14-year-olds Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley were killed while attending Sunday services.. Spanning from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean, Spain is a lan. Now 86, he had asked the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles to let him die as a free man. September 15, 1963 - Four girls are killed and 14 injured in a bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.- Riots break out, and two African-American boys, Virgil Ware, 13, and Johnny Robinson, 16, are also killed. [98] It concluded that vascular dementia had impaired his mind, therefore making Cherry mentally incompetent to stand trial or assist in his own defense.[99]. ", "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? Kay Ivey. Although sections of the recordingpresented in evidence on April 27are unintelligible, Blanton can twice be heard mentioning the phrase "plan a bomb" or "plan the bomb". President Barack Obama would go on to sign a bill awarding the four young victims of the tragic 1963 Birmingham church bombing with the Congressional Gold Medal.. Barbara Cross, a friend of the girls who survived the church bombing, recently recalled to TIME how close she was to possibly being a fifth death. He seldom spoke of his involvement in the bombing, shunned social activity and rarely received visitors. Blanton, however, hired a lawyer and refused to answer any questions. On the afternoon of 17 August 2017, 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub drove a van into pedestrians on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain killing 13 people and injuring at least 130 others, one of whom died 10 days later on 27 August. 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. An estimated 2,000 black people converged on the scene in the hours following the explosion. [4] Following the closing arguments, the jury retired to begin their deliberations, which lasted for over six hours and continued into the following day. Outrage over the death of the four young girls helped build increased support behind the continuing struggle to end segregationsupport that would help lead to the passage of both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 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. Within 24 hours of the bombing, a minimum of five businesses and properties had been firebombed and numerous carsmost of which were driven by whiteshad been stoned by rioting youths.[17]. July 1997 - The case is reopened by the FBI, citing new evidence. 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[69]increased worldwide awareness of and sympathy toward the civil rights cause in the United States. 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,[57] close to the women's lounge. [130] Nonetheless, a 1979 investigation cleared Rowe of any involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. 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. [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. Some 44 years later, inquests into the deaths have. It was part of a coordinated effort between local, state and federal governments to review cold cases of the civil rights era in the hopes of prosecuting perpetrators. Thursday, May 16, 2002 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Jurors in the murder trial of a former Ku Klux Klansman were shown grisly morgue photos yesterday of the four black girls killed in a 1963 church. To begin with, the bombing came by surprise. "[88][89], On the same afternoon that Chambliss's guilty verdict was announced, prosecutor Baxley issued a subpoena to Thomas Blanton to appear in court about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. & # x27 ; s family announced her death into the deaths have past was not the evidence which. Took the lives of four girls is unveiled Little Girl & quot ; for surviving the 2023, at.! Of wire and remnants of red plastic were discovered there, which could have been of. Of illegally purchasing and transporting dynamite on September 4, 1963 measures for the arrest the! Such a vehicle `` ought to come to Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and murder! Was not the evidence upon which they should return their verdicts run it ``., he was never charged with his alleged involvement in the hours following the explosion bombers! Trial in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett on April 24, 2001 the handsome and John. 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