Within one week of being sworn into office, Baxley had researched original police files into the bombing, discovering that the original police documents were "mostly worthless". On January 20, 1961, the handsome and charismatic John F. Kennedy became president of the United States. [95], On May 16, 2000, a grand jury in Alabama indicted Thomas Edwin Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry on eight counts each in relation to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. The four individuals named in the FBI report were Blanton, Cash, Chambliss, and Cherry. July 1997 - The case is reopened by the FBI, citing new evidence. 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. Alabama Governor George Wallace was a leading foe of desegregation, and Birmingham had one of the strongest and most violent chapters of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Cross testified that each girl present had been taught to contemplate how Jesus would react to affliction or injustice, and they were asked to learn to consider, "What Would Jesus Do? 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. The church's pastor, the Reverend John Cross Jr., attempted to placate the crowd by loudly reciting the 23rd Psalm through a bullhorn. [1][2][3] 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.[4]. In the early morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, four members of the United Klans of AmericaThomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Robert Edward Chambliss,[19] Bobby Frank Cherry, and (allegedly) Herman Frank Cashplanted a minimum of 15 sticks[20] of dynamite with a time delay under the steps of the church, close to the basement. Sims and Farley had been riding home from an anti-integration rally which had denounced the church bombing. [60][61] At the time, no federal charges were filed against Chambliss or any of his fellow conspirators in relation to the bombing. [102] He said: "You've got to have a meeting to plan a bomb. [113] Blanton was confined in a one-man cell under tight security. There had been a history of mistrust between local and federal investigators. [144], 1963 white supremacist terrorist attack in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, The four girls killed in the bombing (clockwise from top left) Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11), Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham Board of Education, Armstrong v. Birmingham Board of Education, Smith v. Young Men's Christian Association, University of Alabama desegregation crisis, Tuskegee High School desegregation crisis, 1963 Birmingham campaign's Children's Crusade, Mass racial violence in the United States, Racial segregation of churches in the United States, Timeline of terrorist attacks in the United States, "How Much Has Changed Since the Birmingham Church Bombing? Three Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted of murder. Blanton, however, hired a lawyer and refused to answer any questions. Through these rulings, Mitchell Burns was called to testify on behalf of the prosecution. Family and friends of Carole Robertson attend graveside services for her in Birmingham on September 17, 1963. [94] 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). [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. An estimated 8,000 people attended the service. [81], In his closing argument before the jury on November 17,[82] Baxley acknowledged that Chambliss was not the sole perpetrator of the bombing. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured. "[43], Two more black youths, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware, were shot to death in Birmingham within seven hours of the Sunday morning bombing. [8], In the years leading up to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Birmingham had earned a national reputation as a tense, violent and racially segregated city, in which even tentative racial integration in any form was met with violent resistance. At times as hard as crucible steel, but, today, you do not walk alone. ", September 15, 2013, marked the 50th anniversary, girls who died are awarded Congressional Gold Medals, statement released by Alabama Gov. 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. 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. He became a paid FBI informant in 1961. [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. [14] These attacks earned the city the nickname "Bombingham". Bobby Frank Cherry was tried in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett, on May 6, 2002. A section of wire and remnants of red plastic were discovered there, which could have been part of a timing device. 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. [11], The three-story 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil rights activities through the spring of 1963. 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. [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. Although this march was met with fierce resistance and criticism, and 600 arrests were made on the first day alone, the Birmingham campaign and its Children's Crusade continued until May 5. Several dozen people were present at the unveiling, presided over by state Senator. Firefighters and ambulance attendants remove a body from the church. [65] Blanton pleaded not guilty to the charges and chose not to testify on his behalf throughout the trial. appreciated. 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. Family and friends of Carole Robertson attend graveside services for her in Birmingham on September 17, 1963. She spoke with News4's Molette Green about . 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. [48]:272, The service for Carole Rosamond Robertson was held at St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church. "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. Heres a look at the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four African-American girls during church services in 1963. 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. The files were sealed by order of J. Edgar Hoover. 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. [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. The sole stained-glass window largely undamaged in the explosion depicted Christ leading a group of young children. Although no city officials attended this service,[53] an estimated 800 clergymen of all races were among the attendees. READ MORE: Civil Rights Movement Timeline, https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/birmingham-church-bombing. This group had previously been linked to several bomb attacks at black-owned businesses and the homes of black community leaders throughout the spring and summer of 1963. Life is hard. 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. These deliberations continued until the following day. He wont be eligible for parole again until 2021. He said this past was not the evidence upon which they should return their verdicts. distributed by home box office studio productions, 102a east 23rd street, new york, ny 10010, phone (212) [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. Continuing to maintain his innocence, Chambliss died in prison in 1985. Some 44 years later, inquests into the deaths have. "[51] Carole Robertson was buried in a blue casket at Shadow Lawn Cemetery.[52]. [118] Cherry pleaded not guilty to the charges and did not testify on his own behalf during the trial. On September 15, 1963, in Birmingham, a bomb exploded on 16th street Baptist Church at 10:22 A.M. During a Sunday school session the ground floor of the church collapsed, four girls out of nearly 200 people died, some. Following these closing arguments, the jury retired to consider their verdicts. Although reports of the bombing and the loss of four children's lives were glorified by white supremacists, who in many instances chose to celebrate the loss as "four less niggers",[41] as news of the church bombing and the fact that four young girls had been killed in the explosion reached the national and international press, many felt that they had not taken the civil rights struggle seriously enough. "[107], Defense attorney John Robbins reminded the jury in his closing argument that his client was an admitted segregationist and a "loudmouth", but that was all that could be proven. 101 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 101 16th street baptist church bombing stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Before his trial, Chambliss remained free upon a $200,000 bond raised by family and supporters and posted October 18. 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. [115][116], Blanton died in prison from unspecified causes on June 26, 2020.[117]. Johnson urged the jury against convicting his client by association. [25] According to one survivor, the explosion shook the entire building and propelled the girls' bodies through the air "like rag dolls". May 22, 2002 - Cherry is found guilty and given a sentence of four life terms. Brogdon also testified that Cherry had told her of his regret that children had died in the bombing, before adding his satisfaction that they would never reproduce. [111][112] He was incarcerated at the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. )[22]:63. 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. [80] Moreover, Cobbs testified on November 16 that, on the day before the bombing, Chambliss had told her that he had in his possession enough dynamite to "flatten half of Birmingham". Though Birminghams white supremacists (and even certain individuals) were immediately suspected in the bombing, repeated calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice went unanswered for more than a decade. 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 . Both were arrested. November 8, 2004 - Cherry dies in prison. With diminished support and fewer volunteers, their campaign to end segregationist policies was teetering on failure. 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. The crime was calculated, not random. 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. Original caption: Alabama-Birmingham-bombings-Body being removed at 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. 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. [36] She had 21 pieces of glass embedded in her face and was blinded in one eye. Baxley had been a student at the University of Alabama when he heard about the bombing in 1963, and later recollected: "I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what."[70]. In response, local African-Americans burned businesses and fought police throughout the downtown area. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Maxine McNair, the last living parent of any of the four Black girls killed in a 1963 Alabama church bombing, died Sunday. [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. The bombing was controversial because Dresden was neither important to German wartime production nor a major read more, The 1960s started off as the dawn of a golden age to most Americans. Two more violent deaths that day Later that day, 13-year-old Virgil Ware, riding on the. The 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing was a devastating event. Barbara Ann Cross also testified for the prosecution. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into effect the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He was 93. 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.. While in jail, King wrote a letter to local white ministers justifying his decision not to call off the demonstrations in the face of continued bloodshed at the hands of local law enforcement officials. An estimated 8,000 people attended the service. 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.[84]. It was declared a national historic landmark in 2006. Martin said: "The cold-blooded callousness of this hate crime has not diminished by the passage of time." She is the daughter of the Reverend John Cross and was aged 13 in 1963. The 16th Street Baptist Church served as a rallying point during the civil rights movement. Cochran also reminded the jury of a secretly obtained FBI recording, which had earlier been introduced into evidence, in which Cherry had told his first wife, Jean, that he and other Klansmen had constructed the bomb within the premises of business the Friday before the bombing. ", "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? 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. He was never charged with his alleged involvement in the bombing and did maintain his innocence. [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]. Melanie Peeples reports. Shortly thereafter, she had heard "the most horrible noise", before being struck on the head by debris. Kay Ivey. After Baxley requested access to the original FBI files on the case, he learned that evidence accumulated by the FBI against the named suspects between 1963 and 1965 had not been revealed to the local prosecutors in Birmingham. All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were destroyed in the explosion. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. The current state death penalty law applied only to crimes committed after its passage. She was distressed about a remark made by Martin Luther King, who had said that the mindset that enabled the murder of the four girls was the "apathy and complacency" of black people in Alabama. (Thomas Blanton had owned a Chevrolet in 1963;[106] neither Chambliss, Cash nor Cherry had owned such a vehicle. 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. 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. 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 . Following Cook's testimony, Baxley introduced police sergeant Ernie Cantrell. Future United States Senator Doug Jones successfully prosecuted Blanton and Cherry. (J. Edgar Hoover, then-head of the FBI, disapproved of the civil rights movement; he died in 1972.). In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. had been arrested there while leading supporters of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in a nonviolent campaign of demonstrations against segregation. According to Vann's later testimony, Chambliss was standing "looking down toward the church, like a firebug watching his fire". In his opening statement for the prosecution, Don Cochran presented his case: that the evidence would show that Cherry had participated in a conspiracy to commit the bombing and conceal evidence linking him to the crime and that he had later gloated over the deaths of the victims. The bomb detonated at 10:19 a.m., killing Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collinsall 14 years oldand 11-year-old Denise McNair. Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder. The Reverend Cross is interred at Hillandale Memorial Gardens in, Welsh craftsman and artist John Petts was inspired to construct and deliver the iconic stained-glass, The names of the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing are engraved upon the. He had repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, insisting Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. was the actual perpetrator. 1965 - Suspects emerge: Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss and Herman Frank Cash, all Ku Klux Klan members. Although never formally named as one of the conspirators by the FBI, Rowe's record of deception on the polygraph tests leaves open the possibility that Chambliss's claims may have held a degree of truth. August 3, 2016 - Blanton, the last living convicted bomber, is denied parole. A devastating event guilty to the charges and chose not to testify on his behalf throughout the.... 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