The Bombing In Birmingham

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.

On April 19th, 1995 a homemade bomb made of a concoction of agricultural fertilizer, fuel, and other dangerous chemicals was left in a truck parked outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. At 9:02 in the morning, it’s blast damaged over 300 buildings surrounding the vehicle and even flattened a third of the federal building. (Strom, 2015) The bomb took the lives of 168 people, including 19 children. It was found that two men, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Lynn Nichols were the ones who planted the device. Both men were found to be associated with a radical militia movement that sought revenge for a siege in Waco, Texas two years prior. The siege killed 82 Branch Davidians, of whom, multiple were related to the militia movement.

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 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

Said Martin Luther King Jr. after the Birmingham Bombing (“16th Street Baptist Church”). The 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing was a devastating event. Lives were lost and you were defined by your skin color.

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

In 1977 former Ku Klux Klansman Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss was indicted in the murder of all four girls, tried and convicted of the first-degree murder of Denise McNair, and sentenced to life in prison. He died eight years later in prison. Thomas E. Blanton, Jr. was tried in 2001 and found guilty at age 62 of four counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

“The Watsons Go To Birmingham,” by Christopher Curtis and “16th Street Street Baptist Church Bombing,” by Jessica McBirney

At 9:03 a.m. a massive bomb resting inside a rented Ryder truck destroyed half of the nine story federal building in downtown Oklahoma City. It also claimed the lives of 169 men, women, and children, while injuring hundreds

April 19, 1995 to some could be considered one of the worse days in history. Joan Bennett a local resident stated “ I remember waking up on that wednesday morning and making myself some coffee and sitting down to watch the news. I was terrified of what was to come next”.

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.

On the covers of newspapers and on the screens of many, the story of the Boston marathon hits the ground. Twenty six thousand eight hundred thirty nine people from all over the world came to run in this awe-inspiring marathon. Until the tragedy strikes right in their faces. The explosions, injuring scores of people, effected the lives of innocent civilians. Cheers were replaced with screams, sirens, and the first responders providing aide to the citizens. This was a brutal event just like the one on September 11, 2001. Instead of using seclusion towards political and economical reasons for events, the mass medias perceptive towards incidents involving the religion Islam has created the stereotypical thought in society in which we live in today.

Terrorist attacks are a consistent global occurrence.The 2005 London underground bombings was an attack which caused largest mass fatality occurrence in the UK since World War 2. As a result the comfort and use of public transport in the UK was greatly impacted. Research into the fatalities and physical repercussions of tragedies are amplified globally. For instance it is considered factual that the

We examined two articles about the bus bombing incident, one from Time and one from the New York Times. The Time article gave a much more general overview of the incident, and lacked some details, such as who was arrested and why, and the response of the government. The New York Times article discussed this information in great detail. It includes the names of the perpetrators and the reason for their arrest. It also discusses the response of Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who

The author, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, of the article “From Aleppo, Tales of Hardship and Bloodshed. ' Civilization is gone.'” writes about Aleppo’s dreadful crisis. More specifically, Aleppo, a city in Syria, is under attack by Islamic extremists every day, who are destroying the civilization of Aleppo completely, causing hundreds of deaths, depression, and no shelters where the residents can stay and be safe. For example, one of the interviewees Mohammed Abu Jihad “fears [Hayat Hospital] could be attacked at any moment, especially since the cease-fire ended and Syrian forces began dropping “bunker buster” bombs capable of penetrating below-ground shelters” (Hennesy 2). Since there is no more protection on the grounds of Aleppo, the Syrians created