Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder. The Board of Pardons and Paroles debated for less than 90 seconds before denying parole to Blanton. In this speech, Morgan lamented: "Who did it [the bombing]? Other witnesses obtained identified Chambliss as the individual who had placed the bomb beneath the church. [26], The explosion blew a hole measuring seven feet (2.1m) in diameter in the church's rear wall, and a crater five feet (1.5m) wide and two feet (0.61m) deep in the ladies' basement lounge, destroying the rear steps to the church and blowing a passing motorist out of his car. [75]:574, Chambliss appealed his conviction, as provided under the law, saying that much of the evidence presented at his trialincluding testimony relating to his activities within the KKKwas circumstantial; that the 14-year delay between the crime and his trial violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial; and the prosecution had deliberately used the delay to try to gain an advantage over Chambliss's defense attorneys. That reluctance to talk about it is one reason Johnny's death didn't get much notice until recently. [132] Nonetheless, a 1979 investigation cleared Rowe of any involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. In his closing argument, prosecuting attorney and future U.S. That bomb took the lives of four young girls, including my friend and playmate [Carol] Denise McNair. birmingham church bombing victims autopsy. These instructions were relayed to the crowd present by a single youth with a bullhorn. Firefighters and ambulance attendants remove a body from the church. February 20, 2006 - The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is declared a national historic landmark. 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. Blanton's attorneys criticized the validity and quality of the 16 tape recordings introduced as evidence,[105] 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. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. 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. Showing Editorial results for 16th street baptist church bombing. She is the daughter of the Reverend John Cross and was aged 13 in 1963. [52] Reportedly, Carole's mother, Alpha, had expressly requested that her daughter be buried separately from the other victims. He said this past was not the evidence upon which they should return their verdicts. At times as hard as crucible steel, but, today, you do not walk alone. Also present was Martin Luther King Jr. She was 93. [17] Other acts of violence followed the settlement, and several staunch Klansmen were known to have expressed frustration at what they saw as a lack of effective resistance to integration.[18]. 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. ", "Beauty from the Ashes of 16th Street Baptist Church", "Church Bomb Kills 4 Girls in Ala.; 2 Die in Fighting", "The Speech That Shocked Birmingham the Day After the Church Bombing", "Ceremony recalls victim of civil rights violence", "First of 4 Birmingham Bomb Victims is Buried", "We Shall Overcome Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement", "Funeral Speakers Say Deaths Of Three Children Not In Vain", "Martin Luther King's 'Eulogy for the Martyred Children', "The ghosts of Alabama: After 37 years, two men are indicted for a bombing that transfigured the civil rights movement", "Birmingham Klansman Guilty in Dynamite Case; Two Other Defendants Face Trial Today--Dr. King Gives City an Ultimatum on Jobs", "FBI: A Byte Out of History: The '63 Baptist Church Bombing", "Murderer Of 4 Birmingham Girls Found Guilty (38 yrs later)", "Former Klansman convicted in deadly 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama church", "Cherry convicted: Jury verdict in bombing hailed as 'justice finally', "Birmingham Church Bombing Conviction Ended an Obsession of the Prosecutor", "Bill Baxley Reflects on 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing", "Former Prosecutor Says FBI Delayed Alabama Conviction", "Former Klansman Convicted In Bombing Death", "Another Redemption: Baxley in Birmingham", "Puzzle Pieces Put Together in Bombing Case", "Alabamian Guilty in '63 Blast that Killed Four Girls", "Robert E. Chambliss, Figure in '63 Bombing", "Former Klansman convicted of deadly Alabama church bombing 40 years on", "Klansman convicted of killing black girls", "As Church Bombing Trial Begins in Birmingham, the City's Past Is Very Much Present", "Former Klansman who was Key Witness at Bombing Trial Dies", "Church Bombing Verdict Hinges on how Jurors Understand Tapes", "Jury Hears More Old Tapes in Church Bombing Trial", "Birmingham church bomber guilty, gets four life terms", "Testimony Concludes in Trial On Birmingham Church Blast", "Former Klansman Convicted in 1963 Church Bombing", "Former Klansman faces prison in 1963 Killings", "1 Klansman survives Ala church bombing cases", "Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bomber up for parole next month", "16th Street Baptist Church bomber Thomas Blanton denied parole", "Thomas Blanton, Who Bombed a Birmingham Church, Dies at 82", "Witnesses Say Ex-Klansman Boasted of Church Bombing", "Design of Bomb Still Uncertain 38 Years Later", "Explosives Expert Testifies In Church Bombing Trial", "Prosecutor Says Justice 'Overdue' in '63 Bombing", "More Than Just a Racist? Continuing to maintain his innocence, Chambliss died in prison in 1985. On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. 16th Street Church Bombing Part 31 of 51 View. 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. "[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 current state death penalty law applied only to crimes committed after its passage. [115] Blanton was confined in a one-man cell under tight security. [102] In January 2002, Judge Garrett ruled Cherry mentally competent to stand trial and set an initial trial date for April 29. [133], I remembered the bombing of that Sunday School at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963. It's never too late for a man to be held accountable for his crimes." [11] The intentional scope of these activities was to see the end of segregation across Birmingham and the South as a whole. June 26, 2020 - Blanton dies in prison of natural causes, according to a statement released by Alabama Gov. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, newly-inaugurated President Lyndon Johnson continued to press for passage of the civil rights bill sought by his predecessor. Three days later, the Rev. Jones reviewed Blanton's extensive history with the Ku Klux Klan, before referring to the audio recordings presented earlier in the trial. Seven witnesses testified on behalf of the prosecution, and two for the defense. "[99] Cross testified that she would usually have accompanied her friends into the basement lounge to change into robes for the forthcoming sermon, but she had been given an assignment. [116], His first parole hearing was held on August 3, 2016. November 8, 2004 - Cherry dies in prison. [60] By the time of the announcement, Herman Cash had also died; however, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry were still alive. I told the truth. Kay Ivey. 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. "[104], In addition to calling attention to flaws in the prosecution's case, the defense exposed inconsistencies in the memories of some prosecution witnesses who had testified. The Birmingham church bombing occurred on September 15, 1963, when a bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabamaa church with a predominantly Black congregation that also served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. [21] The anonymous caller simply said the words, "Three minutes"[22]:10 to Maull before terminating the call. 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. [11], Black and white residents of Birmingham had access to different public amenities such as water fountains and places of public gathering such as movie theaters. This appeal was dismissed on May 22, 1979. 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. The next day, they are joined by 500 police officers and 150 sheriffs deputies. (J. Edgar Hoover, then-head of the FBI, disapproved of the civil rights movement; he died in 1972.). [75]:497 This testimony of witnesses and evidence was used to formally construct a case against Robert Chambliss. WebThe bombing occurred on Sept. 15, 1963, a Sunday, at the 16th Street Baptist Church, which had been a center of civil rights activity in Birmingham. WebThe girls' death and the long wait for justice raises important questions about civil rights, racism, and the nature of restorative justice. Three Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted of murder. It was a clear act of racial hatred: the A fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before he could be brought to trial. "[109], 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. He wont be eligible for parole again until 2021. [113][114] He was incarcerated at the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. WebDoug Jones prosecuted two of the men responsible for the bombing when he was the U.S. attorney in Birmingham during the Clinton administration. [93] In the years since his incarceration, Chambliss had been confined to a solitary cell to protect him from attacks by fellow inmates. 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. A coffin is loaded into a hearse at a funeral for the girls. [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. [78][79], Chambliss pleaded not guilty to the charges, insisting that although he had purchased a case of dynamite less than two weeks before the bombing, he had given the dynamite to a Klansman and FBI agent provocateur named Gary Thomas Rowe Jr.[80], To discredit Chambliss's claims that Rowe had committed the bombing, prosecuting attorney William Baxley introduced two law enforcement officers to testify as to Chambliss's inconsistent claims of innocence. ", September 15, 2013, marked the 50th anniversary, girls who died are awarded Congressional Gold Medals, statement released by Alabama Gov. Cobbs also testified that approximately one week after the bombing, she had observed Chambliss watching a news report relating to the four girls killed in the 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. I did not see it happen, but I heard it happen and I felt it happen, just a few blocks away at my father's church. WebThe violent blast ripped through the wall, killing four African-American girls on the other side and injuring more than 20 inside the church. All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were destroyed in the explosion. 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]. WebThe blast killed Denise McNair, 11, and three 14-year-olds: Carole Robertson, Cynthia Morris, also referred to as Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, who was Rudolphs This page was last edited on 4 April 2023, at 16:31. birmingham church bombing victims autopsy. [61] These witness statements specifically indicated that a white man had exited the car and walked toward the steps of the church. Barbara Ann Cross also testified for the prosecution. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. King later spoke before 8,000 people at the funeral for three of the girls (the family of the fourth girl held a smaller private service), fueling the public outrage now mounting across the country. "[17][51], Carole Rosamond Robertson was laid to rest in a private family funeral held on September 17, 1963. 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. 1965 - Suspects emerge: Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss and Herman Frank Cash, all Ku Klux Klan members. The first of these witnesses was Tom Cook, a retired Birmingham police officer, who testified on November 15 as to a conversation he had had with Chambliss in 1975. 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. (Thomas Blanton had owned a Chevrolet in 1963;[108] neither Chambliss, Cash nor Cherry had owned such a vehicle. 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. 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. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Cherry's defense attorney, Mickey Johnson, protested his client's innocence, citing that much of the evidence presented was circumstantial. Although informative to the FBI, Rowe actively participated in violence against both Black and white civil rights activists. May 16, 2000 - A grand jury in Alabama indicts former Klansmen Cherry and Blanton with eight counts each of first-degree murder - four counts of intentional murder and four of murder with universal malice. [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). Heres a look at the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four African-American girls during church services in 1963. 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? 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. A Warner Bros. 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. They forever changed the face of this state and the history of this state. [41] The Birmingham City Council convened an emergency meeting to propose safety measures for the city, although proposals for a curfew were rejected. 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. WebWith a photo of her as a 12-year-old in a hospital room on a screen behind her, Sarah Collins Rudolph, left, describes the 1963 bombing at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist 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. With its large African American congregation, the 16th Street Baptist Church served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., who once called Birmingham a symbol of hardcore resistance to integration. Alabamas governor, George Wallace, made preserving racial segregation one of the central goals of his administration, and Birmingham had one of the most violent and lawless chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. 1963 terrorist attack in Birmingham, Alabama, 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? (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty September 26, 1977 - Chambliss, 73, a retired auto mechanic, is indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on four counts of first-degree murder. September 12, 2013 - Fifty years after the bombing, all four girls who died are awarded Congressional Gold Medals. The police were plenty busy around that time. It was declared a national historic landmark in 2006. There are other reasons as well. Although a subsequent FBI investigation identified three other menBobby Frank Cherry, Herman Cash and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr.as having helped Chambliss commit the crime, it was later revealed that FBI chairman J. Edgar Hoover blocked their prosecution and shut down the investigation without filing charges in 1968. 999 cigarettes product of mr same / redassedbaboon hacked games WebVictim Assistance; More Resources Scams and Safety. Family and friends of Carole Robertson attend graveside services for her in Birmingham on September 17, 1963. There had been a history of mistrust between local and federal investigators. He said the U.S. Army "ought to come to Birmingham and take over this city and run it.". [11], The three-story 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil rights activities through the spring of 1963. September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. November 15, 1977 - On the second day of the trial, Chamblisss niece, Elizabeth Cobb, testifies that before the bombing, Chambliss confided to her that he had enough stuff put away to flatten half of Birmingham.. This decision was later reversed. [57], Initially, investigators theorized that a bomb thrown from a passing car had caused the explosion at the 16th Street Baptist church. [77] But at a pre-trial hearing on October 18,[78] Judge Wallace Gibson ruled that the defendant would be tried upon one count of murderthat of Carol Denise McNair[78]and that the remaining three counts of murder would remain, but that he would not be charged in relation to these three deaths. The intention was to fill the jail with protesters. 0 On Sept. 15, 1963, four young girls were killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Stressing that Blanton should not be judged for his beliefs, Robbins again vehemently criticized the validity and poor quality of the audio recordings presented, and the selectivity of the sections which had been introduced into evidence. 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]. A well-known Klan member, Robert Chambliss, was charged with murder and with buying 122 sticks of dynamite. [38] Another sister of Addie Mae Collins, 16-year-old Junie Collins, would later recall that shortly before the explosion, she had been sitting in the basement of the church reading the Bible and had observed Addie Mae Collins tying the dress sash of Carol Denise McNair before she returned upstairs to the ground floor of the church. Relatives of the four victims openly wept in relief. [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. Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. was brought to trial in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett on April 24, 2001. On September 15, 1963, a bomb explodes during Sunday morning services in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Carol Denise McNair (11). 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Convicted of murder be buried separately from the church seconds before denying parole to Blanton and run it ``..., 2006 - the Sixteenth Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama violence against both Black white! Assistance ; more Resources Scams and Safety brought to trial in Birmingham in 1963 Reportedly, Carole 's,! Held on August 3, 2016 500 police officers and 150 sheriffs deputies not the evidence presented was circumstantial case. This testimony of witnesses and evidence was used to formally construct a case against Robert..
Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder. The Board of Pardons and Paroles debated for less than 90 seconds before denying parole to Blanton. In this speech, Morgan lamented: "Who did it [the bombing]? Other witnesses obtained identified Chambliss as the individual who had placed the bomb beneath the church. [26], The explosion blew a hole measuring seven feet (2.1m) in diameter in the church's rear wall, and a crater five feet (1.5m) wide and two feet (0.61m) deep in the ladies' basement lounge, destroying the rear steps to the church and blowing a passing motorist out of his car. [75]:574, Chambliss appealed his conviction, as provided under the law, saying that much of the evidence presented at his trialincluding testimony relating to his activities within the KKKwas circumstantial; that the 14-year delay between the crime and his trial violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial; and the prosecution had deliberately used the delay to try to gain an advantage over Chambliss's defense attorneys. That reluctance to talk about it is one reason Johnny's death didn't get much notice until recently. [132] Nonetheless, a 1979 investigation cleared Rowe of any involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. In his closing argument, prosecuting attorney and future U.S. That bomb took the lives of four young girls, including my friend and playmate [Carol] Denise McNair. birmingham church bombing victims autopsy. These instructions were relayed to the crowd present by a single youth with a bullhorn. Firefighters and ambulance attendants remove a body from the church. February 20, 2006 - The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is declared a national historic landmark. 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. Blanton's attorneys criticized the validity and quality of the 16 tape recordings introduced as evidence,[105] 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. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. 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. Showing Editorial results for 16th street baptist church bombing. She is the daughter of the Reverend John Cross and was aged 13 in 1963. [52] Reportedly, Carole's mother, Alpha, had expressly requested that her daughter be buried separately from the other victims. He said this past was not the evidence upon which they should return their verdicts. At times as hard as crucible steel, but, today, you do not walk alone. Also present was Martin Luther King Jr. 
She was 93. [17] Other acts of violence followed the settlement, and several staunch Klansmen were known to have expressed frustration at what they saw as a lack of effective resistance to integration.[18]. 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. ", "Beauty from the Ashes of 16th Street Baptist Church", "Church Bomb Kills 4 Girls in Ala.; 2 Die in Fighting", "The Speech That Shocked Birmingham the Day After the Church Bombing", "Ceremony recalls victim of civil rights violence", "First of 4 Birmingham Bomb Victims is Buried", "We Shall Overcome Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement", "Funeral Speakers Say Deaths Of Three Children Not In Vain", "Martin Luther King's 'Eulogy for the Martyred Children', "The ghosts of Alabama: After 37 years, two men are indicted for a bombing that transfigured the civil rights movement", "Birmingham Klansman Guilty in Dynamite Case; Two Other Defendants Face Trial Today--Dr. King Gives City an Ultimatum on Jobs", "FBI: A Byte Out of History: The '63 Baptist Church Bombing", "Murderer Of 4 Birmingham Girls Found Guilty (38 yrs later)", "Former Klansman convicted in deadly 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama church", "Cherry convicted: Jury verdict in bombing hailed as 'justice finally', "Birmingham Church Bombing Conviction Ended an Obsession of the Prosecutor", "Bill Baxley Reflects on 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing", "Former Prosecutor Says FBI Delayed Alabama Conviction", "Former Klansman Convicted In Bombing Death", "Another Redemption: Baxley in Birmingham", "Puzzle Pieces Put Together in Bombing Case", "Alabamian Guilty in '63 Blast that Killed Four Girls", "Robert E. Chambliss, Figure in '63 Bombing", "Former Klansman convicted of deadly Alabama church bombing 40 years on", "Klansman convicted of killing black girls", "As Church Bombing Trial Begins in Birmingham, the City's Past Is Very Much Present", "Former Klansman who was Key Witness at Bombing Trial Dies", "Church Bombing Verdict Hinges on how Jurors Understand Tapes", "Jury Hears More Old Tapes in Church Bombing Trial", "Birmingham church bomber guilty, gets four life terms", "Testimony Concludes in Trial On Birmingham Church Blast", "Former Klansman Convicted in 1963 Church Bombing", "Former Klansman faces prison in 1963 Killings", "1 Klansman survives Ala church bombing cases", "Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bomber up for parole next month", "16th Street Baptist Church bomber Thomas Blanton denied parole", "Thomas Blanton, Who Bombed a Birmingham Church, Dies at 82", "Witnesses Say Ex-Klansman Boasted of Church Bombing", "Design of Bomb Still Uncertain 38 Years Later", "Explosives Expert Testifies In Church Bombing Trial", "Prosecutor Says Justice 'Overdue' in '63 Bombing", "More Than Just a Racist? Continuing to maintain his innocence, Chambliss died in prison in 1985. On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. 16th Street Church Bombing Part 31 of 51 View. 
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. "[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 current state death penalty law applied only to crimes committed after its passage. [115] Blanton was confined in a one-man cell under tight security. [102] In January 2002, Judge Garrett ruled Cherry mentally competent to stand trial and set an initial trial date for April 29. [133], I remembered the bombing of that Sunday School at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963. It's never too late for a man to be held accountable for his crimes." [11] The intentional scope of these activities was to see the end of segregation across Birmingham and the South as a whole. June 26, 2020 - Blanton dies in prison of natural causes, according to a statement released by Alabama Gov. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, newly-inaugurated President Lyndon Johnson continued to press for passage of the civil rights bill sought by his predecessor. Three days later, the Rev. Jones reviewed Blanton's extensive history with the Ku Klux Klan, before referring to the audio recordings presented earlier in the trial. Seven witnesses testified on behalf of the prosecution, and two for the defense. "[99] Cross testified that she would usually have accompanied her friends into the basement lounge to change into robes for the forthcoming sermon, but she had been given an assignment. [116], His first parole hearing was held on August 3, 2016. November 8, 2004 - Cherry dies in prison. [60] By the time of the announcement, Herman Cash had also died; however, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry were still alive. I told the truth. Kay Ivey. 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. "[104], In addition to calling attention to flaws in the prosecution's case, the defense exposed inconsistencies in the memories of some prosecution witnesses who had testified. The Birmingham church bombing occurred on September 15, 1963, when a bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabamaa church with a predominantly Black congregation that also served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. [21] The anonymous caller simply said the words, "Three minutes"[22]:10 to Maull before terminating the call. 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. [11], Black and white residents of Birmingham had access to different public amenities such as water fountains and places of public gathering such as movie theaters. This appeal was dismissed on May 22, 1979. 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. The next day, they are joined by 500 police officers and 150 sheriffs deputies. (J. Edgar Hoover, then-head of the FBI, disapproved of the civil rights movement; he died in 1972.). [75]:497 This testimony of witnesses and evidence was used to formally construct a case against Robert Chambliss. WebThe bombing occurred on Sept. 15, 1963, a Sunday, at the 16th Street Baptist Church, which had been a center of civil rights activity in Birmingham. WebThe girls' death and the long wait for justice raises important questions about civil rights, racism, and the nature of restorative justice. Three Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted of murder. It was a clear act of racial hatred: the A fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before he could be brought to trial. "[109], 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. He wont be eligible for parole again until 2021. [113][114] He was incarcerated at the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. WebDoug Jones prosecuted two of the men responsible for the bombing when he was the U.S. attorney in Birmingham during the Clinton administration. [93] In the years since his incarceration, Chambliss had been confined to a solitary cell to protect him from attacks by fellow inmates. 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. A coffin is loaded into a hearse at a funeral for the girls. [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. [78][79], Chambliss pleaded not guilty to the charges, insisting that although he had purchased a case of dynamite less than two weeks before the bombing, he had given the dynamite to a Klansman and FBI agent provocateur named Gary Thomas Rowe Jr.[80], To discredit Chambliss's claims that Rowe had committed the bombing, prosecuting attorney William Baxley introduced two law enforcement officers to testify as to Chambliss's inconsistent claims of innocence. ", September 15, 2013, marked the 50th anniversary, girls who died are awarded Congressional Gold Medals, statement released by Alabama Gov. Cobbs also testified that approximately one week after the bombing, she had observed Chambliss watching a news report relating to the four girls killed in the 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. I did not see it happen, but I heard it happen and I felt it happen, just a few blocks away at my father's church. WebThe violent blast ripped through the wall, killing four African-American girls on the other side and injuring more than 20 inside the church. All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were destroyed in the explosion. 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]. WebThe blast killed Denise McNair, 11, and three 14-year-olds: Carole Robertson, Cynthia Morris, also referred to as Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, who was Rudolphs This page was last edited on 4 April 2023, at 16:31. birmingham church bombing victims autopsy. [61] These witness statements specifically indicated that a white man had exited the car and walked toward the steps of the church. Barbara Ann Cross also testified for the prosecution. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. King later spoke before 8,000 people at the funeral for three of the girls (the family of the fourth girl held a smaller private service), fueling the public outrage now mounting across the country. "[17][51], Carole Rosamond Robertson was laid to rest in a private family funeral held on September 17, 1963. 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. 1965 - Suspects emerge: Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss and Herman Frank Cash, all Ku Klux Klan members. The first of these witnesses was Tom Cook, a retired Birmingham police officer, who testified on November 15 as to a conversation he had had with Chambliss in 1975. 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. (Thomas Blanton had owned a Chevrolet in 1963;[108] neither Chambliss, Cash nor Cherry had owned such a vehicle. 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. 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. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Cherry's defense attorney, Mickey Johnson, protested his client's innocence, citing that much of the evidence presented was circumstantial. Although informative to the FBI, Rowe actively participated in violence against both Black and white civil rights activists. May 16, 2000 - A grand jury in Alabama indicts former Klansmen Cherry and Blanton with eight counts each of first-degree murder - four counts of intentional murder and four of murder with universal malice. [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). Heres a look at the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four African-American girls during church services in 1963. 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? 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. A Warner Bros. 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. They forever changed the face of this state and the history of this state. [41] The Birmingham City Council convened an emergency meeting to propose safety measures for the city, although proposals for a curfew were rejected. 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. WebWith a photo of her as a 12-year-old in a hospital room on a screen behind her, Sarah Collins Rudolph, left, describes the 1963 bombing at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist 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. With its large African American congregation, the 16th Street Baptist Church served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., who once called Birmingham a symbol of hardcore resistance to integration. Alabamas governor, George Wallace, made preserving racial segregation one of the central goals of his administration, and Birmingham had one of the most violent and lawless chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. 1963 terrorist attack in Birmingham, Alabama, 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? (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty September 26, 1977 - Chambliss, 73, a retired auto mechanic, is indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on four counts of first-degree murder. September 12, 2013 - Fifty years after the bombing, all four girls who died are awarded Congressional Gold Medals. The police were plenty busy around that time. It was declared a national historic landmark in 2006. There are other reasons as well. Although a subsequent FBI investigation identified three other menBobby Frank Cherry, Herman Cash and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr.as having helped Chambliss commit the crime, it was later revealed that FBI chairman J. Edgar Hoover blocked their prosecution and shut down the investigation without filing charges in 1968. 999 cigarettes product of mr same / redassedbaboon hacked games WebVictim Assistance; More Resources Scams and Safety. Family and friends of Carole Robertson attend graveside services for her in Birmingham on September 17, 1963. There had been a history of mistrust between local and federal investigators. He said the U.S. Army "ought to come to Birmingham and take over this city and run it.". [11], The three-story 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil rights activities through the spring of 1963. September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. November 15, 1977 - On the second day of the trial, Chamblisss niece, Elizabeth Cobb, testifies that before the bombing, Chambliss confided to her that he had enough stuff put away to flatten half of Birmingham.. This decision was later reversed. [57], Initially, investigators theorized that a bomb thrown from a passing car had caused the explosion at the 16th Street Baptist church. [77] But at a pre-trial hearing on October 18,[78] Judge Wallace Gibson ruled that the defendant would be tried upon one count of murderthat of Carol Denise McNair[78]and that the remaining three counts of murder would remain, but that he would not be charged in relation to these three deaths. The intention was to fill the jail with protesters. 0 On Sept. 15, 1963, four young girls were killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Stressing that Blanton should not be judged for his beliefs, Robbins again vehemently criticized the validity and poor quality of the audio recordings presented, and the selectivity of the sections which had been introduced into evidence. 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]. A well-known Klan member, Robert Chambliss, was charged with murder and with buying 122 sticks of dynamite. [38] Another sister of Addie Mae Collins, 16-year-old Junie Collins, would later recall that shortly before the explosion, she had been sitting in the basement of the church reading the Bible and had observed Addie Mae Collins tying the dress sash of Carol Denise McNair before she returned upstairs to the ground floor of the church. Relatives of the four victims openly wept in relief. [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. Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. was brought to trial in Birmingham, Alabama, before Judge James Garrett on April 24, 2001. On September 15, 1963, a bomb explodes during Sunday morning services in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Carol Denise McNair (11). 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