16TH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH BOMBING

By Nick Mazgay

Photograph by http://utsa.edu/sombrilla/spring2012/story/feature-the-movement.html

BIRMINGHAM 1963• August 3–300 jailed in

Gadsden• August 28–MLK speech

• August 30–3 schools to be desegregated

• September 8–Arthur

George house bombing

• September 9–Gov. Wallace

bars blacks • September 15–16th street

bombing

Photograph by http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/04/but_for_bull_connor_and_birmin.html

SEPTEMBER 15TH, 1963

• 16th Street Baptist Church

• KKK plants bombs

• 10:22 AM• 200 people

within the church• 22 people injured• 4 killed

Photo by http://abagond.wordpress.com/page/6/

VICTIMS• Cynthia Wesley (14)• Addie Mae Collins (14)• Denise McNair (11)• Carol Robertson (14)• Sarah Collins• “The Love that

Forgives”

Photographs by http://milesaway44105.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/sarah-collins-and-the-16th-street-baptist-church-bombing-update/ and http://wisdomftf.com/2013/01/29/field-history-profile-the-4-little-girls-1-and-the-bombing-of-the-16th-st-baptist-church/

• Funerals of the victims

• No justice for over a decade

• J. Edgar Hoover did not approve of the movement• 1977 KKK leader

Robert Chambliss• 2001 & 2002 more

trials

AFTERMATH

Photo by http://www.drmartinlutherkingjr.com/birminghamchurchbombingeulogy.htm & http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330725/1963-KKK-Bombing-Survivor-Sarah-Collins-Rudolph-forgives-perpetrators-Obama-awards-gold-medal-dead.html

“Mother dear, may I go downtown Instead of out to play, And march the streets of Birmingham In a Freedom March today?”

“No, baby, no, you may not go, For the dogs are fierce and wild, And clubs and hoses, guns and jails Aren’t good for a little child.”

“But, mother, I won’t be alone. Other children will go with me, And march the streets of Birmingham To make our country free.”

“No, baby, no, you may not go, For I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead And sing in the children’s choir.”

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair, And bathed rose petal sweet, And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands, And white shoes on her feet.

The mother smiled to know her child Was in the sacred place, But that smile was the last smile To come upon her face.

For when she heard the explosion, Her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham Calling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick, Then lifted out a shoe. “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore, But, baby, where are you?”

BALLAD OF BIRMINGHAMBY DUDLEY RANDALL

•Memorial service•Moments of silence• Sculptures of the victims• Congressional Gold Medal

50TH ANNIVERSARY

“That horrific day in Birmingham, Alabama quickly became a defining moment for the Civil Rights Movement.”

-President Obama

Photo by http://news.yahoo.com/alabama-church-marks-50th-anniversary-bombing-151142086.html

• 16th Street Baptist Church Marks 50th Anniversary of Bombing.

16 September 2013. 19 November 2013 <www.myfoxal.com>.

• Birmingham Church Bombing. n.d. 24 November 2013

<www.history.com>.

• Field History Profile: The 4 Little Girls +1. 29 January 2013. 18

November 2013 <http://wisdomftf.com>.

• Randall, Dudley. "Ballad of Birmingham." Cities Burning (1968).

• Reeves, Jay. 1th Street Baptist Church Marks 50th Anniversary of

Bombing. 15 September 2013. 19 November 2013

<www.news.yahoo.com>.

• Wright, Barnett. 1963 in Birmingham Alabama: A Timeline of

Events. 1 January 2013. 20 November 2013

<http://blog.al.com>.

WORKS CITED

VIDEO:

Klan Bombing of Birmingham Church 1963.mp4