About the Bombing
![Picture](/uploads/2/9/3/7/29376863/8799248.jpg)
Due to the recent March on Washington and African-American voting rights campaign, racial tension was sent boiling in a city already heated by it. At 10:22am, the church was bombed during Sunday school services, resulting in the deaths of the four young girls, aged 14 and 11, pictured at the left. Fourteen others were injured, one of whom a little girl who lost an eye.
This explosion resulted in an angry mob of African-American residents swarming the area and acting out toward the police, who then fired into the crowds. In these random shootings, two teenage African-American boys were killed.
At the time of the bombing, three other fires were burning around Birmingham, all in colored establishments. With this being the fourth and most cruel act of racial violence in the preceding month, former Sheriff Melvin Bailey called it "the most distressing [day] in the history of Birmingham."
In the attempts to find the culprit (or culprits), former Alabama governor George Wallace offered a $5,000 reward for anyone who could identify, arrest, and convict the perpetrator. No suspects were identified until 1965, when Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss, and Herman Frank Cash were named. Due to lack of testament and evidence, charges were not filed.
It was not until 1977 when the first charge was put into trial. Robert Chambliss was convicted and sentenced for life on four counts of first-degree murder. Later on in 2002, the FBI reopened the case and convicted Cherry and Blanton and gave them each life sentences. All of those imprisoned died there.
The deaths of these four girls, along with President John F. Kennedy's assassination only a short time later, a strong wave of urgency slapped the nation and helped to push the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into action. Without this piece of far-reaching legislation, rights of all citizens of the United States, no matter race, gender, or even sexuality, would not be as advanced as they are today.
This explosion resulted in an angry mob of African-American residents swarming the area and acting out toward the police, who then fired into the crowds. In these random shootings, two teenage African-American boys were killed.
At the time of the bombing, three other fires were burning around Birmingham, all in colored establishments. With this being the fourth and most cruel act of racial violence in the preceding month, former Sheriff Melvin Bailey called it "the most distressing [day] in the history of Birmingham."
In the attempts to find the culprit (or culprits), former Alabama governor George Wallace offered a $5,000 reward for anyone who could identify, arrest, and convict the perpetrator. No suspects were identified until 1965, when Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss, and Herman Frank Cash were named. Due to lack of testament and evidence, charges were not filed.
It was not until 1977 when the first charge was put into trial. Robert Chambliss was convicted and sentenced for life on four counts of first-degree murder. Later on in 2002, the FBI reopened the case and convicted Cherry and Blanton and gave them each life sentences. All of those imprisoned died there.
The deaths of these four girls, along with President John F. Kennedy's assassination only a short time later, a strong wave of urgency slapped the nation and helped to push the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into action. Without this piece of far-reaching legislation, rights of all citizens of the United States, no matter race, gender, or even sexuality, would not be as advanced as they are today.
This is picture of a stained glass window from the church after the bombing. You can see how, out of the rest of his body, only his face was blown off by the explosion. While it may be a coincidence, it is a very powerful representation of how wrongful an act this bombing was. So cruel that Jesus could not even look at the ruins.