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.
As part of a revival effort by states and the federal government to prosecute cold cases from the civil rights era, the state placed both Blanton Jr. and Cherry on trial, who were each convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Future United States SenatorDoug Jones successfully prosecuted Blanton and Cherry.[7] Herman Cash died in 1994, and was never charged with his alleged involvement in the bombing.
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing marked a turning point in the United States during the civil rights movement and also contributed to support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Congress.[8]
Although both Blanton and Cherry denied their involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, until his death in 1985, Robert Chambliss repeatedly insisted that the bombing had been committed by Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. Rowe had been encouraged to join the Klan by acquaintances in 1960. He became a paid FBI informant in 1961.[134] In this role, Rowe acted as an agent provocateur between 1961[135] and 1965. Although informative to the FBI, Rowe actively participated in violence against both black and white civil rights activists. 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.[136]
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.[137] These polygraph results had convinced some FBI agents of Rowe's culpability in the bombing. Prosecutors at Chambliss's 1977 trial had initially intended to call Rowe as a witness; however, DA William Baxley had chosen not to call Rowe as a witness after being informed of the results of these polygraph tests.
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.[137] Nonetheless, a 1979 investigation cleared Rowe of any involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.[138]
Following the bombing, the 16th Street Baptist Church remained closed for over eight months, as assessments and, later, repairs were conducted upon the property. Both the church and the bereaved families received an estimated $23,000 ($228,900 in 2023) in cash donations from members of the public. Gifts totalling over $186,000 ($1.85 million in 2023) were donated from around the world. The church reopened to members of the public on June 7, 1964, and continues to remain an active place of worship today, with an average weekly attendance of nearly 2,000 worshippers. As of May 2019, the pastor of the church is the Reverend Arthur Price Jr.[140]
[54]
The most seriously injured survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Sarah Jean Collins, remained hospitalized for more than two months following the bombing. Collins' injuries were so extensive that medical personnel did initially fear she would lose the sight in both eyes, although, by October, they were able to inform Collins she would regain the sight in her left eye.[142] When asked her feelings towards the bombers on October 15, 1963, Collins first thanked those who had cared for her and sent messages of condolence, flowers and toys, then said: "As for the bomber, people are praying for him. We wonder what he would be thinking today if he had children ... He will face God. We turn this problem over to God because no one else can solve Birmingham's problems. We leave it up to God to solve them."[142]
[141]
the young white lawyer who had delivered an impassioned speech on September 16, 1963, deploring the tolerance and complacency of much of the white population of Birmingham towards the suppression and intimidation of blacks—thereby contributing to the climate of hatred in the city—himself received death threats directed against him and his family in the days following his speech. Within three months, Morgan and his family were forced to flee Birmingham.[143][45]
Charles Morgan Jr.
a prominent figure within the Civil Rights Movement and organizer of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was galvanized to create what became known as the Alabama Project for Voting Rights as a direct result of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing. Following the bombing, Bevel and his then-wife, Diane, relocated to Alabama,[144] where they tirelessly worked upon the Alabama Project for Voting Rights, which aimed to extend full voting rights for all eligible citizens of Alabama regardless of race. This initiative subsequently contributed to the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, which themselves resulted in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, thus prohibiting any form of racial discrimination within the process of voting.
James Bevel
The Welsh Window. Designed by artist John Petts, the stained-glass window depicts a Black Christ with his arms outstretched; his right arm pushing away hatred and injustice, the left extended in an offering of forgiveness.[145] Within the 16th Street Baptist Church, there still stands the Welsh Window. Sculpted by Carmarthenshire-based artist John Petts, who had initiated a campaign in Wales to raise money to fund a replacement stained-glass window which had been destroyed in the bombing. Petts had opted to construct a stained-glass image of a Black Christ to replace one of the windows destroyed in the bombing.[145]
Within two days of the church bombing, Petts had contacted then-pastor of the church, the Reverend John Cross, announcing he had launched a fundraising campaign to create this artwork via an appeal conducted through the , requesting funds from the Welsh public to pay for the construction of the structure in Wales, and its delivery and installation at the 16th Street Baptist Church.[146]
Western Mail
John Petts died in 1991 at the age of 77. 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." Petts then elaborated that the inspiration for the stained-glass image was a verse from the : "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."[147] The Welsh Window bears the inscription, "Given by The People of Wales".[148]
Gospel of Matthew
On the 27th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, a state historic marker was unveiled at Greenwood Cemetery, the final resting place of three of the four victims of the bombing (Carole Robertson's body had been reburied in Greenwood Cemetery in 1974, following the death of her father). Several dozen people were present at the unveiling, presided over by state Senator . At the service, the four girls were described as martyrs who "died so freedom could live".[139]
Roger Bedford
Herman Frank Cash died of cancer in February 1994. He was never charged with his alleged involvement in the bombing and did maintain his innocence. Although Cash is known to have passed a polygraph test in which he was questioned as to his potential involvement in the bombing, the FBI had concluded in May 1965 that Cash was one of the four conspirators.[65] Cash is interred at Northview Cemetery in Polk County, Georgia.
[149]
The Reverend John Cross, who had been the pastor of the 16th Street Baptist Church at the time of the 1963 bombing, died of natural causes on November 15, 2007. He was 82 years old. The Reverend Cross is interred at Hillandale Memorial Gardens in .[150]
DeKalb County, Georgia
Former Secretary of State was eight years old at the time of the bombing and both a classmate and friend of Carol Denise McNair. On the day of the bombing, Rice was at her father's church, located a few blocks from the 16th Street Baptist Church. In 2004, Rice recalled her memories of the bombing:
I remembered the bombing of that Sunday School at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 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. It is a sound that I will never forget, that will forever reverberate in my ears. That bomb took the lives of four young girls, including my friend and playmate [Carol] Denise McNair. The crime was calculated, not random. 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.[151]
Condoleezza Rice
On May 24, 2013, President awarded a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to the four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing. This medal was awarded through signing into effect Public Law 113–11;[152] a bill which awarded one Congressional Gold Medal to be created in recognition of the fact the girls' deaths served as a major catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, and invigorated a momentum ensuring the signing into passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[153] The gold medal was presented to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to display or loan to other museums.[153]
Barack Obama
The song "" is directly inspired by the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Written in 1964 by Richard Fariña and recorded by Fariña's sister-in-law, Joan Baez, the song was included on Baez's 1964 album Joan Baez/5. The song would also be covered by Rhiannon Giddens, and is included on her 2017 album Freedom Highway.[154]
Birmingham Sunday
's 1964 civil rights anthem "Mississippi Goddam" is partially inspired by the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. The lyric "Alabama's got me so upset" refers to this incident.[155]
Nina Simone
Jazz musician 's 1964 album Live at Birdland includes the track "Alabama", recorded two months after the bombing. This song was written as a direct musical tribute to the victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.[156]
John Coltrane
African-American composer 's 1982 work for wind ensemble titled American Guernica was composed in memory of the victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.[157]
Until Justice Rolls Down: The Birmingham Church Bombing Case
Thorne, T. K. (2013). Last Chance for Justice: How Relentless Investigators Uncovered New Evidence Convicting the Birmingham Church Bombers. Lawrence Books. 978-1-61374-864-0.
ISBN
Wade, Wyn C. (1998). The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-512357-9.
documenting the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
FBI article
FBI.gov relating to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
archive of newspaper clippings
October 1963 magazine article "'Where Was God' When Bomb Hit", by Larry Still, covering the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Jet
Archived March 29, 2006, at the Wayback Machine available at the Birmingham Public Library. These archives include photographic and newspaper archives
Online archives
Chambliss vs. State:
Details of Robert Chambliss's 1979 appeal against his conviction
with 16th Street Baptist Church bombing survivor Sarah Collins Rudolph
Audio interview
Archived February 12, 2015, at the Wayback Machine—A website devoted to the construction and preservation of the Four Spirits memorial sculpture at Kelly Ingram Park
