The Sixties: Early Stirrings - September 14,...

On September 14, 1963, Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson were in Sunday School at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, when the ground shook violently.

They thought it was an earthquake. It was 10:30 a.m. and a bomb had just exploded in the church basement. Debris from the floors above rained down on the girls.

The girls had no chance of escape.

The Ku Klux Klan had planted the bomb the day before, and had set the bomb to explode at that moment.

The KKK knew that children--black children--would be attending Sunday school when the bomb exploded.

This brutally tragic incident sparked race riots. Many had wanted to retaliate, but Reverend Martin Luther King strongly advised against it.

This incident also served as a marker when many whites joined the civil rights movment, due to their outrage at the bombing deaths of these four little girls.

Comments: 14

Meryl Johnson May 16, 2006, 8:21pm EDT

I've been hearing from a friend in N. Carolina that things are about to explode again, this time over illegal immigrants. Keep your fingers crossed.

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing was one of the most vicious moments in American history. Thanks for posting this. We need to remember.

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 16, 2006, 9:09pm EDT

Yes, I'm sure the ilegal immigrant issue is extremely explosive. And, yes, this bombing of the four little girls is extremely important. Thanks for commenting. !!!

reply to this comment

George McNaughton May 16, 2006, 9:49pm EDT

Kathryn, were you intending this to be tied to the illegal immigration issue, or is it a random statement of fact? Personally, don't buy into the racial discrimination side of the immigration issue -- I think we need to slow it or stop it across the board -- white, black, brown, red (oops they were here first), green.

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 16, 2006, 10:29pm EDT

George, I wasn't intending for illegal immigration to be tied into this series at all. A commenter mentioned that it uprisings were likely to rear their ugly head, this time with respect to illegal immigration, rather than racism, per se. i rather agree on that point, but it is apart from this series. This series is solely on news events that happened in the 60s. I don't really buy into the racism part of illegal immigration, though, I'm not really certain about it. I think it does exist, but I think the feelings about illegal immigrants overshadow the negative feelings people have about racism, or something like that. I'm not really sure....

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 16, 2006, 11:36pm EDT

Erik Elfring, yes, the KKK as terrorists. White supremacists, terrorists...Yes, your words, "a dark day for our democracy." I'm reminded of the much worse earlier racism of 1955, with Emmettt Till, lynchings from the 19th century, and KKK violence during a lot of the earlier parts of the 20th century...

reply to this comment

Carolyn Madden May 17, 2006, 6:02am EDT

good stuff again Kathryn, this was an extraordinary time in history.. I have views regarding the racism that is behind a lot of immigration debates, but they are purely based on my experiences here in Orstralia so shall clam the hell up. Would be nice though if the folks who are concerned about the economic ramifications of illegals were just as concerned about the abject poverty that many of their legal fellow citizens endure as well.

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 17, 2006, 7:36am EDT

Carolyn, point well made !!! That is very true !!!

reply to this comment

George McNaughton May 17, 2006, 9:44am EDT

Carolyn, I agree and feel that we should in fact be concentrating on lifting our fellow citizens out of abject poverty. I believe that should be the priority not assisting corporate interests in enslavement of illegal aliens or engaging in adventures in the middle-east. Walling off Mexico should be a project like the WPA projects in the 1930's.

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 17, 2006, 11:01am EDT

George, interesting comment to Carolyn. "Walling off Mexico should be a project like the WPA..." I had not thought of that, thanks for thinking of it....Drastic, though.

reply to this comment

Ian Thorpe May 17, 2006, 11:23am EDT

Illegal immigration issues not connected to racism? Here in Britain we have the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard) screaming about illegal immigrants and bogus asylum seekers from Africa (north and south), India, Pakistan, Iraq, Kosovo, etc. etc. But nobody is saying a word about the thousands of young Australians, Americans, Canadians and South Africans who come for a vacation and simply slip below the radar. I would bet my mortgage money (if I still had a mortgage) that there is similar silence in the US about the Europeans who arrive and just melt away.
America's race problems go deeper than elsewhere though it seems.

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 17, 2006, 11:27am EDT

Ian, it seems England is in a different position than the U.S. My English friends here in my town tell me that London now has a minority of whites...The illegal immigratin issue here is mostly in the Western and South Western part of the country (though, certainly is in the Eastern part, too), and includes racism as a part of its problem, but it is not the main problem...Racism against African-Americans has been an issue for hundreds of years, already. We brought the African-Americans over here, then we squelched them.

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 17, 2006, 11:29am EDT

i'd like to remind people who comment on this article that this article is about the four young girls who were bombed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. I'd like to keep the comment on this article, not on tangents, please.Thank you.

reply to this comment

Kathryn E. May 17, 2006, 12:11pm EDT

This incident of the church bombing provoked an incredible amount of race-oriented riots. This incident was also responsible for more whites joining the civil rights movement. Still, in 1963, there was no guaranteed civil rights for minorities. That was yet to come.

reply to this comment

The Sixties: Early Stirrings - September 14, 1963, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Street Church Bombings - Four Girls Murdered (14)

Comments: 14

Join the Conversation

You might also like

More by Kathryn E.