September 15, 1963: 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

DHS US History II

In the 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States. By 1963, Birmingham had earned the nickname “Bombingham” because homemade bombs set of in homes and churches were so common. KKK members would call in bomb threats to black churches to interrupt services and civil rights meetings. Birmingham hosted one of the largest and strongest chapters of the KKK. Because of the severe segregation and violent attitude toward African Americans, civil rights activists used this city as a target for their campaigns. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham in the spring of 1963 and wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” which was published with images of police brutality, which helped gather support for the civil rights movement. The 16th Street Baptist Church was a significant church for many African Americans in Birmingham and many civil rights marches took place on its steps and many civil rights meetings took place within its walls. On the morning of September 15, 1963, a few bomb threats were called in to the church. These threats were ignored because KKK members called in frequently so as to interrupt church services and civil rights meetings. However, this day was different, these threats had truth to them. Four KKK members of the United Klans of America planted 15 sticks of dynamite under the back stairs of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Around 200 people were in the church at the time before the 11:00 service, most were girls attending Sunday School. At 10:22, the bomb went off. Four girls died in the attack and another twenty were injured. Thousands of angry protesters showed up at the scene of the bombing. Police and State Troopers were sent to break up the protest, but it only caused a stream of violence to break out throughout the city. A few protesters were arrested and two were killed in the conflict. Eventually, the National Guard was sent in to take control over the city and bring order back. The white supremacists of Birmingham were suspected from the start, even individuals were accused of the attack, however no one was brought to justice. Many people called for them to be persecuted, but their calls wouldn’t be answered for a number of years. Those in the government did not agree with the civil rights movement and therefore did nothing. It was even proven that they had information on the attackers by 1965 and still did nothing about it. They turned a blind eye to this act of violence simply because they agreed with those who committed the act and disagreed with the victims. Later, in 1977, the case was reopened by Alabama Attorney General Bob Baxley and brought Robert E. Chambliss, a Klan leader, to trial for the crime. Chambliss was convicted of the bombings and murder of the girls and died in prison in 1985. The case was reopened three other times (1980, 1988, 1997) and two more men, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry, were convicted and received life sentences for their crime. The fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before he could be tried.