Birmingham Church Bombing

Even as the inspiring words of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech rang out from the Lincoln Memorial during the historic March on Washington on August 28, 1963, racial relations in the segregated South were marked by continued violence and inequality. How many days passed until the bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at a Birmingham, Alabama church?

• 18 days

• 28 days

• 8 days

• 38 days

On September 15, 1963, a bomb went off before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church, a church with a predominantly black congregation that served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Who were the four young children, who were killed in the explosion?

• 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson and 11-year-old Denise McNair

• 14-year-olds Emmitt Till, Medgar Evers and Carole Riccoli and 11-year-old Donna May Snitzel

• 14-year-olds Byron de la Beckwith, Thomas Blanton, Joyce Lewis, and 11-year-old Dianne Brett

• 14-year-olds Roberta Lee Chambliss, Jesse E. Hoover, Terry Downing, and 11-year-old Carole May Wallace

Why are the four young children who died in the 16th Street Church Bombing considered martyrs in the struggle for Civil Rights for African Americans?

• The 4 innocent children were victims of racist hatred and violence. Their deaths created outrage among members of the African American community and increased national support behind the struggle to end segregation that lead directly to the passage of landmark civil rights laws in 1964 and 1965.

• The 4 innocent children were victims of racist hatred and violence. Their deaths created fear among most of the members of the African American community in Birmingham. The bombing emboldened members to the Klu Klux Klan to continue to intimidate and assault anyone, White or African American, from organizing and protesting. It wasn't until Richard Nixon was elected President in 1968 that important laws to protect African Americans' Civil Rights were passed.

• The 4 children were victims of racist hatred and violence. Their deaths created outrage among the Christian community and increased national support for laws to protect churches from bombings and arson.

• The 4 young children were victims of racist hatred and violence. Their deaths created outrage among the white community and increased national support behind the struggle to preserve segregation that lead directly to the bombing of more churches and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's wife Stephanie in 1967.

Why did racist terrorists target so many of the African American Churches for bombing and arson attacks?

• The African American churches often served as a meeting places for civil rights leaders to organize protests against segregation and racist practices. Many of the Civil Right Movement's leaders were pastors.

• The white churches wanted to become meeting places for civil rights leaders to organize protests against segregation and racist practices. They wanted to encourage African Americans to join their congregations by any means necessary.

• The African American churches often served as a meeting places for terrorists to plan riots and plot the violent overthrow of the US Government. Many of the Civil Right Movement's leaders were communists. The Klu Klux Klansmen were trying to protect their country.

• The African American churches often served as a meeting places for white civil rights leaders from the North to organize protests against segregation and racist practices. Many of the Northern Civil Right Movement's leaders wanted revenge for the Civil War.

In 1963, what was Birmingham Alabama's nickname? Why?

• Because racists were terrorizing African American homes and churches with homemade bombs so often, the city was nicknamed "Bombingham"

• Because the Boeing Aircraft Company's Birmingham factory built B-52 jets there. The nickname was "Bomberham." The B-52 was the US Air Force's most effective heavy bomber in 1963... and 55 years later, it still is!

• Birmingham was nicknamed the "Iron City" because so many Civil Rights workers were being arrested and put behind "iron bars' in the cit's jail.

• Birmingham was named after Reggie Birmingham, a young man who mistakenly bombed the wrong place in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957 during the Little Rock Nine incident.

There were white racists in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960's. Which one of these people or organizations DID NOT encourage racism and violence?

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) led a non-violent campaign of protests for desegregation and demands for voting rights for African Americans

• Eugene "Bull" Connor, the Birmingham police chief, was notorious for his willingness to use brutality and violence against protestors and folks who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

• Alabama Governor George Wallace was Alabama's angry racist leader who opposed integration and racial equality. In one famous incident, he literally stood in the "schoolhouse" door to stop African American students from attending the University of Alabama.

• The Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham was one of the most active of all the Klu Klux Klan groups in Alabama. Their specially was burning crosses, lynching innocent African Americans, and bombing African American churches.

How did the families of the four murdered children in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing finally get justice for the cold blooded murder of their daughters?

• In 1977, the investigation was re-opened and Klan leader Robert E. Chambliss was brought to trial for the bombings and convicted of murder. A few years later, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry, were finally convicted by 2002. The fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before he could be brought to trial.

• Governor Wallace sent police and state troopers to break up the protestsafter the murder of the 4 young girls. Violence broke out across Birmingham. A number of protesters were arrested, and two young African American men were killed and the case was dropped.

• The 16th Street Baptist Church moved to a safer location on 32nd Street in the nearby town of Vestavia Hills. The families' demands for justice were finally realized when a bomb accidentally exploded at Klu Klux Klan Birmingham headquarters. The men suspected in the murder of the 4 young girls were killed. Karma can be difficult.

• A huge mob of African Americans, led by the families of the murdered children, protested around the homes of the four suspects, Robert E. Chambliss, Thomas Blanton, Herman Frank Cash, and Bobby Frank Cherry. Frightened, the murderers quickly left town and were never heard from again.

Outrage over the deaths of the four innocent girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church helped build increased support behind the continuing struggle to end segregation. Today, historians believe that this led to ... ?

• ... the passage of both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In that sense, the bombing’s effect turned out to be exactly the opposite of what its perpetrators had intended.

• ... the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution. This bombing convinced voters in the entire nations that these amendments were sorely needed.

• ... the establishment of White Citizens' Council in Alabamam Mississippi, and Georgia to preserve the strict segregation laws and a ban on all non-violent protests in all three states.

• ... the creation of a Presidential Commission to determine that the segregationist organizations in the South like the Klu Klux Klan would be severely punished the next time any African American young people were murdered by bombings or assassinations.

Birmingham had reputation as a stronghold for white supremacy. Protesters made Birmingham a major focus of their efforts to desegregate the Deep South. In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested there while leading supporters in several nonviolent demonstrations against segregation. While in jail, King wrote a message to local white ministers justifying his decision not to call off the protests. What was his message called?

• "Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was published nationally along with shocking images of police brutality against protesters in Birmingham

• Dr. King's "I Have a Dream”speech was first published regionally along with shocking images of protesters rioting in Montgomery and Little Rock.

• "Letter to White Supremacists” threatened to expose the identities of the Klu Klux Klan members in Birmingham that were assaulting protesters.

• "J'accuse Birmingham!” paraphrased Emile Zola's famous essay. Dr. King accused Birmingham's white pastors of Anti-Semitism. The essay was published in along with images of police assaulting jewish protesters in Birmingham

The lifeless bodies of 4 young girls were found beneath the rubble after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Who was the 10 year old girl who survived the blast, but was seriously hurt? She ended up losing her right eye, severe burns and several other painful injuries.

• Sarah Collins was in the restroom at the time of the explosion.

• Addie Mae Collins was in the restroom at the time of the explosion.

• Cynthia Wesley was in the restroom at the time of the explosion.

• Carole Robertson was in the restroom at the time of the explosion.

• Denise McNair was in the restroom at the time of the explosion.