After a jury convicted former Ku Klux Klan member Thomas E. Blanton Jr., who died in prison June 26, of participating in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963, then . "[112], Blanton was sentenced to life imprisonment. Birmingham Church Bombing - History Fifteen sticks of dynamite were planted in the church basement, underneath what turned out to be the girls restroom. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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 bombing.It was calculated to produce death, Coroner Robert Brissie said of the bomb. [92], Robert Chambliss died in the Lloyd Noland Hospital and Health Center on October 29, 1985, at the age of 81. [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. 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. He said the blast shredded the girls bodies.Some members of the jury looked down and grimaced as Mr. Brissie used a large screen to display black-and-white photographs of the bodies.Defendant Bobby Frank Cherry also turned his head away from the photos, which werent visible to a gallery that included several of the victims relatives sitting in the front row.Mr. "It would have given the extremists an opportunity to reconsider," Cross said. In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects. The Aftermath. 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. Vintage photos - 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham - al But perhaps most notably, four little girls -- three 14-year-olds and one 11-year-old -- were killed, putting the bombing among the most well-known and heartbreaking tragedies in the fight for civil rights in America's Deep South. The Robertsons made funeral arrangements before learning that the other families were planning a combined service with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, delivering the eulogy. Birmingham "is synonymous to barbarism" and "needs to be protected against itself," said New York City Mayor Robert Wagner. "Wow. Two more violent deaths that day Later that day, 13-year-old Virgil Ware, riding on the. [99] In spite of a rebuttal argument by the defense, Judge Garrett ruled that some sections were too prejudicial, but also that portions of some audio recordings could be introduced as evidence. That same day, news reports described the federal hunt for the bombers as rivaling the search for John Dillinger. "[45], Two more Black youths, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware, were shot to death in Birmingham within seven hours of the Sunday morning bombing. The city of Birmingham, Alabama, was founded in 1871 and rapidly became the states most important industrial and commercial center. On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. The bombing occurred days after black students began attending Birmingham city schools. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. Addie Mae Collins was one of the four little girls murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing back in 1963. Wallace and his advisers have been sowing the seeds of this disaster," the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law stated. Flying debris nearly demolishes vehicles and leaves cars dotted with large holes. Birmingham church bombing case was FBI triumph [107], The trial lasted for one week. Burns had secretly recorded several conversations with Blanton in which the latter (Blanton) had gloated when talking about the bombing, and had boasted the police would not catch him when he bombed another church. (The physical description by witnesses of this person varied, and could have matched either Bobby Cherry or Robert Chambliss. The crime was calculated, not random. 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing : NPR Victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. "For the past several weeks, Gov. (Tom Self/ Birmingham News), Original caption: Destruction is seen in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Sunday, Sept. 15, 1963. George Wallace, however, repeated his call that the feds buried evidence in bombings because it pointed to "the wrong people" -- meaning civil rights groups. Of the nearly 200 congregants inside, attending Sunday school classes and preparing for the 11 a.m. service, about 22 were injured. The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15 was the third bombing in 11 days, after a federal court order had come down mandating the integration of Alabamas school system. [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 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. KKK members had routinely called in bomb threats intended to disrupt civil rights meetings as well as services at the church. In an effort to intimidate demonstrators, members of the KKK routinely telephoned the church with bomb threats intended to disrupt these meetings as well as regular church services. I don't know why I'm going to jail for nothing. Now the Jury Must Decide", "Bobby Frank Cherry, 74, Klansman in Bombing, Dies", "Gary T. Rowe Jr., 64, Who Informed on Klan In Civil Rights Killing, Is Dead", "Long Fight Predicted In Case Against Rowe", "Paid FBI Informer Tells Of Murder, Silence", "Memorial Dedicated For Church Bombing Victims On Anniversary", "Siblings of the bombing: Remembering Birmingham church blast 50 years on", "Girl Living in Darkness After Church Bombing", "Alabama church bombing victims honoured by Welsh window", "American civil rights: the Welsh connection", "Death spares scrutiny of Cash in bomb probe", "Pastor Was At Church When Bomb Killed Four", United States Government Publishing Office, "A History of American Protest: When Nina Simone Sang what Everyone was Thinking", "American Guernica, LKM Music - Hal Leonard Online", "Still Reeling From the Day Death Came to Birmingham", "Television Review: A Father's Guilt; A Son's Wrenching Decision", "That Which Might Have Been, Birmingham 1963 - Phoenix, Arizona - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com", "Memorial project for 16th Street Baptist Church bombing raises $200,000 of $250,000 goal", "Four Spirits unveiled across from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church", "Four Spirits Statue, Memorial to 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Victims, Unveiled", Details of Robert Chambliss's 1979 appeal against his conviction, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)", List of lynching victims in the United States, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, African American founding fathers of the United States, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing&oldid=1150872665, African-American history in Birmingham, Alabama, Attacks on religious buildings and structures in the United States, Massacres in religious buildings and structures, Racially motivated violence against African Americans, September 1963 events in the United States, Terrorist incidents in the United States in 1963, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2023, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. 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. Cantrell also stated that Chambliss had boasted of his knowledge of how to construct a "drip-method bomb" using a fishing float and a leaking bucket of water. Fred Shuttlesworth officiated instead. 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. Three day after the bombing, funeral services were held for Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, both 14, and 11-year-old Denise McNair. He said this past was not the evidence upon which they should return their verdicts. Shortly thereafter, she had heard "the most horrible noise", before being struck on the head by debris. 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] It was the location where students were organized and trained by the SCLC Director of Direct Action, James Bevel, to participate in the 1963 Birmingham campaign's Children's Crusade after other marches had taken place. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured. [100] It concluded that vascular dementia had impaired his mind, therefore making Cherry mentally incompetent to stand trial or assist in his own defense.[101]. 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. Doug Jones, the Alabama Senate race and the 1963 Birmingham church Alabama sidesteps compensation for survivor of 1963 KKK Birmingham The community, the state and the nation were stunned and shocked by this dastardly act. [11] The intentional scope of these activities was to see the end of segregation across Birmingham and the South as a whole. 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Photos and Premium - Getty Images About the recordings made as Blanton conversed with Burns, Robbins emphasized that Burns had earlier testified that Blanton had never expressly said that he had made or planted the bomb. [96] They unsealed 9,000 pieces of evidence previously gathered by the FBI in the 1960s (many of these documents relating to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had not been made available to DA William Baxley in the 1970s). She was 93. . [62][63] At the time, no federal charges were filed against Chambliss or any of his fellow conspirators in relation to the bombing. By Rowe's own later admission, while serving as an FBI informant, he had shot and killed an unidentified Black man and had been an accessory to the murder of Viola Liuzzo.[131]. The blast killed four little girls and became a tragic marker in civil rights history.. [8], On Thursday, May 2, more than 1,000 students, some reportedly as young as eight, opted to leave school and gather at the 16th Street Baptist Church. "I will never stop crying thinking about it," said Cross, who was 13 at the . Maxine McNair, the last living parent of the four girls killed in the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church, passed away Sunday. Farrell Griswold, pastor of Minor Heights Baptist, told the crowd. Birmingham pub bombings: Who were the victims? - BBC News
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