Keeping
historical events in context is an important part of studying
history. It is not possible to make sense of our past if we think of
historical events as disconnected occurrences. To learn from our
past, we need to see patterns and relationships.
Our special Web coverage of the
Children's March
is meant to share the experience, strength, and hope of youth and
highlight the role of young people played in shaping our nation.
Reading about the Children's March, seeing the pictures, reading what
the participants have to say, is important.
We must look at the events that created the need for
the march and what the protests accomplished. We must see how stunned
and outraged the rest of the nation and the world were at the
developments in Birmingham. We also must look at how the community
and participants were affected.
Birmingham was one of
the most violent cities
in America -- the Klu Klux Klan conducted a reign of terror. The 16th
Street Baptist Church bombing, on Sunday, September 15, 1963; was the
21st in 8 years. It was the 4th bombing in 4 weeks and the 3rd
bombing since September white uprisings over the desegregation of
schools.
During that decade, none of the bombings were
"solved." No one was held accountable. Justice was not served.
Police estimated that at least 15 sticks of dynamite must have been
used to blow up the Baptist Church.
The violence directed against the Civil Rights
Movement in Birmingham was organized. Many believed that it involved
at least the tacit approval of government officials. Some believed
that key law enforcement officials were behind the terror. The Klu
Klux Klan boasted that it had powerful members in high places.
After the blast, witnesses identified a member of the
Ku Klux Klan, Robert Chambliss, as the person who placed the bomb
under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. He was
arrested and had in his possession a box of 122 sticks of dynamite
without a permit.
On 8th October, 1963, Chambliss was found not guilty
of murder. He received a hundred-dollar fine and a six-month jail
sentence for having the dynamite. This was "justice" in Birmingham.
The bomb went off in the 16th Street Baptist Church
when over 400 African Americans were inside, including 80 children. It
was Young Day at the parish. Dozens were hurt. The blast destroyed 2
cars and blew the glass out or windows on buildings that were blocks
away. Ironically, after the blast, the only remaining stained glass
window in the church showed Christ leading a group of children. The
face of Christ was blown out.
At least 20 people were seriously hurt and taken to
hospitals. Dozens were treated for less serious injuries. When they
heard the blast, people came running to see what had happened.
Birmingham's Mayor, Albert Boutwell, was shocked. His
city could not go on like this. He asked for help, announcing, "It is
a tragic event. It is just sickening that a few individuals could
commit such a horrible atrocity. The occurrence of such a thing has so
gravely concerned the public..."
Mayor Boutwell was so upset that he nearly broke down
in tears and could not finish his statement.
Four children were killed: Denise McNair, 11; Carol
Robertson, 14; Cynthia Wesley, 14, and Addie Mae Collins, 10. Click
HERE to learn more about the lives of these girls.
Because of his work in the community, friends and families of the
victims called Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta. Dr. King knew
he was needed to help keep the peace. He wired President Kennedy from
Atlanta, say that he was going to Birmingham. The stricken community
needed a leader to encourage the friends and families of the bombing's
victims to "remain non-violent."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. presided over the funeral for 3 of the
children killed and delivered a dramatic
eulogy for the martyred children.
King could not promise to hold the peace. Racial
hatred and violence in "Bombingham"
was entrenched. He warned Kennedy that unless "immediate Federal
steps are taken" there would be "in Birmingham and Alabama the worst
racial holocaust this Nation has ever seen."
Kennedy, responded by ordered Burke Marshall, his top
civil rights aide, to Birmingham. Bomb experts and 25 FBI agents
were rushed in.
The previously that summer, President Kennedy found it
necessary to take over the Alabama National guard and desegregate
schools in Birmingham, Mobile, and Tuskegee. Alabama governor and
avowed segregationist, George Wallace, had done all he could to impede
the integration of Alabama's schools. A week before the terrible
church bombing, he told the New York Times that Alabama needed a "few
first-class funerals" to stop integration.
As events unfolded, Dr. King was extremely critical of
Governor Wallace. He stated to Wallace that "the blood of four little
children... is on your hands. Your irresponsible and misguided actions
have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced
continued violence and now murder."
Shortly after the bombing, police disbanded a rally of
white students protesting the desegregation of three Birmingham
schools. There was a motorcade of militant adult segregationists
driving through the community. What, if any, role they played in the
crime was never determined. It was assumed the motorcade was heading
white student rally.
Five fires were reported in African American
businesses in Birmingham that night. Police in riot gear patrolled
the community. Over 500 National Guardsmen stood on call in case
reinforcements were needed.
Everyone knew that the The Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church was an important part of the African-American community. It
was where the strategists, organizers and participates planned their
action. It was here that the
Children's March
was initiated. In many ways, it was the heart of the Civil Rights
Movement.
The church was used for rallies, and Martin Luther
King, Jr. and other leaders frequently spoke at these events. The
church was bombed by segregationist that were using terrorist tactics
to disrupt the struggle for civil rights.
While Birmingham had been one of America's most
violent cities for African America for years, the situation was
becoming more hostile and dangerous. When the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Congress on Racial Equality
(CORE) became involved in a campaign to register African American to
vote in Birmingham, the violence against African American's in the
community increased.
The FBI's initial investigation into the bombing
determined that Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank
Cash, and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr. had planted the bomb. The Birmingham
FBI office recommended the suspects be prosecuted on federal charges
and murder. However, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover blocked
prosecution.
Throughout the Civil Rights Movement,
Hoover harassed and spied on Dr. King, and would not allow his
agency to take action against the perpetrators of this horrific
crime.
In 1971, General Bill Baxley was elected as Alabama
Attorney. He reopened the case and requested the original Federal
Bureau of Investigation files. The FBI actually had accumulated a
great deal of evidence against Chambliss, much of it was not used in
the original trial.
In 1977, Chambliss was again tried for the Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church bombing. At age 73, Chambliss was found guilty
and sentenced to life imprisonment. Chambliss died in an Alabama
prison on 29th October, 1985.
In 2000, the FBI announced that the Sixteenth Street
Baptist Church bombing was committed a splinter group of the Ku Klux
Klan, the Cahaba Boys. They had evidence that four men four men,
Robert Chambliss, Herman Cash, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry were
responsible for the crime. By 2000, Cash had died. Blanton and Cherry
were arrested. Cherry was already in jail in Texas for raping his
stepdaughter in 1971.
On May 2, 2001, Thomas Blanton, avowed racist and
former Ku Klux Klan member, was convicted of first- degree murder in
the bombing deaths of the four young black girls.
Reasonable people can ask, "was justice served?"
By Bill Breitsprecher
©2006, Breitlinks
All Rights Reserved
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