The Birmingham Church Bombing

"Pictures of the bravery and determination of the Birmingham children as they faced the brutal firehoses and vicious police dogs were splashed on the front of every newspaper across America." Says Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund. Time Magazine had an entire article with pictures covering the event. This exposed the issue to the media and made the people of the nation realize what needed to be done about it. In the article Birmingham Children's Crusade by Kim Gilmore it states, "Later that year, in September 1963, four little girls were killed by a bomb planted by white supremacists at the 16th St Baptists Church... The horrific bombings sent shock waves through the nation." The events following the crusade only pushed the people further and the Civil Rights Movement was back on its

In 1963, a month after Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech rang harmonies of freedom and equality throughout the United States, Klan members set off dynamite in the sixteenth Baptist Church. The resulting explosion and compromise in the integrity of the building killed four girls. These girls, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNarr were the victims of this atrocity. The events that followed furthered the bloodshed. Thousands of black protestors flooded the streets in protest of the horrific acta that took place in the sixteenth Baptist street church [2]. It was not until 2001 and 2002 when some of the men responsible for the crimes would be prosecuted and eventually convicted. Though the intent of the bombing was to instill fear and panic into the black community, what came about was unity and a call to action.

The biographical details of the convicted Who is/was this person? How old were they at the time of the crime? Include at least 3 photos of the person

In the two texts, “The Watsons Go to Birmingham,” by Christopher Curtis and “16th Street Baptist Church Bombing,” by Jessica McBirney the authors both use the church bombing event to develop their own central ideas. In the text, “The Watsons Go to Birmingham,” by Christopher Curtis the central idea focuses on how the event affected a few families personally, and the whole community in a different way. This is shown when the main character Kenny thinks his sister was killed in the bombing, though she was not. In the text, “16th Street Baptist Church Bombing,” by Jessica McBirney the central idea focuses on that the bombing didn’t just affect the girls, but the entire nation leading to the signing of the civil rights act by President Lyndon

Throughout the long fourteen year span of the Civil Rights Movement, countless monumental and historical events took place, but one stood out among the rest. That event was the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and with that the death of four innocent African American girls. The bomb had the most impact to the segregation status quo and the overall success of the Civil Rights Act.

Alabama was often the epicenter of civil rights activism and steadfast perseverance for African Americans during the 1960s. It is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led his congregation and where four little girls were murdered and 22 citizens were injured when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed. It is also where Dr. King and other activists planned the march on Washington, where he and others leaders like John Lewis were met with violence but ultimately claimed victory in the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965. And who could forget the powerful images of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade of 1963, where young, non-violent protesters were met with high-power water hoses, beaten with batons and threatened by police

In the New York Times article, “Birmingham Bomb Kills Four Negro Girls in Church; Riots Flare; Two Boys Slain”, reporter Claude Sitton gives plenty of details about what occurred the Sunday morning of September 15th. The beginning of the article states that the bombing of the all Negro church killed four black girls (Cynthia Weasley, 14, Denise McNair, 11, Carol Robertson, 14, Addie Mae Collins, 14) and injured fourteen Negroes. Claude also explains that during the hours following the bombing and explosion, others were hurt and killed. The hours after the bombing were chaotic and Birmingham was in complete mayhem. Among the killings were two young black boys shot, sixteen year old Johnny Robinson and fourteen year old Virgil Wade. Among the

In July of 1963, along with Warden Nash and 15 witness's, Patrick Buchanan watched the execution of convict Sammy Aire Tucker. A man who had a killed a police officer during a robbery.

To begin with, the bombing came by surprise. It was September 15,1963 11:00 AM at The 16th Street Baptist Church (United States National Park Service). Just before this the church had been a big gathering point for civil rights activists (“16th Street Baptist Church Bombing). That morning at 11:00 AM a bomb was placed under the church stairs (“About the 1963 Birmingham Bombing”). The bombing was a surprise to everyone in and around

The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing on September 15, 1963 has been one of the most historic bombing in the African American community. Since then, the Spike Lee’s Four Little Girls film and the poem, Ballad of Birmingham, have been created to commemorate the event and the loss of the four beautiful young girls. Both have received awards for their outstanding and thoughtful works that both artist put into their projects. The movie, Four Little Girls, was a very stimulating movie because it was not your typical scripted play. It was a documentary of all the family, friends, and community that were affected by this event. On the other hand, the poem, Ballad of Birmingham, was very eye opening because it put a new perspective of the church bombing.

In 1963, four children were killed in the bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Martin Luther King and Eugene Patterson both delivered eulogies after the deaths of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robertson. The death of these children were not in vain. They aided Congress to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Both eulogies have sentiments of hope and responsibility and use repetition.

Evidence:Two men who robbed the agency were William Robinson and Terrance Stewart. License plate number was given. A note was found and latent fingerprints.

These are the four little girls that had died in the bombing of The 16th street Baptist church. Their names were Addi Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise.

James A. Colaiaco in the article, “The American Dream Unfulfilled: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’” explains how Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence tactics ultimately allowed African Americans to make great strides for equality in the Supreme Court. Colaiaco supports his claims by giving detailed explanations about the main points mentioned within King’s letter. The author’s purpose is to persuade the reader to continue to help making social changes in order to fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. Colaiaco begins his article by giving the reader background information about events that took place during the early 1960’s and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s role in the civil rights movement. He argues that “the events in Birmingham proved to be a turning point in the battle for civil rights, after which the forces of

4 Little Girls, a historical documentary produced by Spike Lee, discusses the deadly bombing of Addie Collins, Dennis McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley in the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. In the documentary, the bombing of the four little girls was placed in the larger context of the Civil Rights Movement, where blacks were fighting to end the legalized racial segregation and discrimination laws. High levels of white violence, especially from the Ku Klux Klan, and a corrupted legal system in which whites controlled sought to dismantle black progression towards integration. Unfortunately, four little girls, who have not experienced much life were the victims of the deadly bombing at 16th