16th Street Bombing – Birmingham, Alabama – Tribute to Maxine McNair
By
John C Abercrombie
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We recently learned of the passing of Maxine McNair however, many don’t know about her or the incident that has played such a significant part of the civil rights movement.
On September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist church was bombed by members of the Ku Klux Klan, killing 4 young women, one aged 11, Denise McNair and 3 aged 14, Addie ae Collins, Carole Rosamond Robertson and Cynthia Dionne Wesley. This blast timed to have maximum impact was a time bomb set for 11:00 am.
A fifth victim Sarah Jean Collins was hospitalized for over 2 months and doctors feared she would lose sight in both eyes but were able to save her left eye. The right eye was removed.
At the time of the blast there were 400 people including 80 children in attendance.
The 16th Street Baptist was a large and devout church and was a center of meetings in the fight for civil rights.
The bomb was set to explode at the beginning of service and located in a strategic location. While most people were preparing for opening prayer, the congregation found themselves seeking safety under the pews and to shield themselves from falling debris. bombing was the 21st in Birmingham in 8 years and the 3rd in only 11 days and followed the mandated integration of the public schools. It is clear that the bombings were racially motivated as all of the businesses, homes and churches were in Black owned ad in Black areas. This is why the city of Birmingham is often referred to “Bombingham.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. often used Birmingham as a symbol of hardcore resistance to integration and it was common knowledge that the Eastview Klavern 13 chapter of the KKK was behind the bombings. It is estimated that at least 1/3 of the Birmingham Police Department officers were either members of the KKK or sympathetic to the cause.
Three members of the Ku Klux Klan were eventually convicted, with the first not occurring until 1977, almost 14 years after the incident. Two were not convicted until the early 2000s.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation identified 4 men in the bombing:
- Robert E Chambliss – Also known as Dynamite Bob
- Bobby Frank Cherry
- Herman Frank Cash
- Thomas E Blanton, Jr.
FBI Director J Edgar Hoover was a fierce opponent of the civil rights movement and blocked the prosecution, even shutting down the investigation in 1968 without filing charges. The FBI also held incriminating evidence of guilt. Thomas Blanton remained free for 4 decades because the FBI did not reveal tape recordings in which Blanton spoke openly f his role in the bombings.
Following the bombings, the FBI maintained the network of agents working inside the Ku Klux Klan, one of them was Gary T Rowe who admitted being involved in assaults on Blacks. Chambliss was Rowe’s supervisor in the clan and stated that the FBI knew and condoned his activities. He also admitted to:
- His role on the attack of Freedom Riders in 1961
- Shooting and killing an unidentified Black man in the Birmingham riot in 1963
- The murder of Viola Liuzzo a White civil rights activist from Detroit
They even smeared the reputation of Liuzzo speaking openly that she did not have on underwear, implying that she was having illicit activities with Blacks.
Rowe admitted in 1980 that the FBI had known about his activities in the racially motivated attacks but denied involvement in the 16th Street bombing. Charges circulate that Rowe had failed a lie detector test about the bombing.
Chambliss was finally brought to trial in 1977, convicted and sentenced to life, dying in prison in 1985. At that time, there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against Blanton and Cherry. Herman Cash did in 1984 without charges ever being filed.
In 1977, Alabama finally brought Robert Chambliss to trial and convicted him of the murders. He was sentenced to a life term and died in prison in 1985. However, the state lacked sufficient evidence to indict Blanton and Cherry, who again evaded prosecution. Suspect Herman Cash died in 1994, never having been charged in the crime.
In 1966 the case was officially reopened by the FBI charging Blanton and Cherry with first-degree and reckless murder. Cherry was ruled mentally incompetent in 2000. In 1997 the existence of tapes being held by the FBI that included statements about the roles of them in the bombings became known to the public where Blanton implicated himself. Tapes included the following:
- A tape from his kitchen where he is telling his wife about a KKK meeting “when we planned the bomb.”
- A tape from a friend where Blanton talks about the bombings
- In one tape he is quoted “They ain’t gonna catch me when I bomb my next church.”
At the trial, a former girlfriend testified that Blanton took her on joy rides where he tried to run down Blacks and had poured acid on the car seats of Blacks. The friend also testified about attending Christmas parties with Blanton. Also testifying that Blanton had talked about a bombing months before the church bombing and saying, “They should kill more of ‘em.”
The jury also heard testimony from a Black civil defense worker who testified to seeing Blanton 2 weeks before the bombing casing the spot where the bomb was planted. He called the Birmingham police. He testified that they “told e I hadn’t seen a damned thing.”
Here is just one example of the complicity of law enforcement on all levels in these actions. America is a nation that by its silence and lack of action condones such activities. Activities that if they happened in another country, we would find ourselves incensed over. We would viciously condemn activities such as this somewhere else, but not here. A startling example of hypocrisy.
There is even a museum dedicated to Lynchings in America with over 4,000 people being killed on the mere basis of an unproven allegation. To see this museum, click here
We also tacitly allow it as for over 100 years efforts to make these unfair and contrary to our foundational principals have failed to make Lynching a federal crime.
Meanwhile we look at Maxine McNair worked as a teacher for over three decades in Birmingham public schools. Her daughter, Lisa McNair, said she changed many lives through education and left a lasting legacy through the students she touched. She was known for laughter and humor. Her husband Chris died in 2019 at the age of 93. He was one of the first Black members of the Alabama legislature since Reconstruction.
Maxine McNair attended an Oval Office ceremony in 2013 where President Barack Obama awarded the 4 girls killed in the bombing the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the country’s highest civilian honors.
The survivor of the bombing who lost her right eye and faced the possibility of blindness has asked for forgiveness of those responsible. This is a high contrast to those who profess to be Christian, yet take every opportunity to suppress, harm and even kill others. This includes those who support with their silence and failure to act the inhuman treatment of others. Those who find it despicable if it happens somewhere else but not here at home.
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Condoleezza Rice talks about the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing of 1963
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The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (The Sarah Collins Rudolph Story)
Once described by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the most tragic and vicious crimes ever perpetrated against humanity, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Alabama, instantly killed Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosamond Robinson, and Cynthia Dionne Morris Wesley on September 15, 1963. This egregious act of domestic terrorism reverberated worldwide. It also sparked the passage of landmark civil rights legislation and a notable artistic response, signified by the jazz musician John Coltrane s elegiac composition, Alabama. Orchestrated by white supremacists, the blast left twelve-year-old Sarah Collins temporarily blind. For decades, she slipped into anonymity. In this intimate first-hand account, Sarah imparts her views on topics such as the 50th year commemoration, restitution, and racial terrorism. This story also delves into the bond between Sarah and her mother, Mrs. Alice Collins. In the backdrop of a national reckoning and global protests, underscored by the deadly violence at Mother Emanuel in Charleston, SC, and tragedies in Charlottesville, VA, and Pittsburgh, PA, Sarah s unflinching testimony about the 63 Birmingham church bombing is illuminating.
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16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Survivor Advocates For Forgiveness
September 15th, 1963. It was a Sunday morning. The time was 10:22 in the morning and 5 little girls were in the basement of the 16th Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. That was the time a racially motivated terrorist attack took the lives of 4 of those little girls and injured more than 20 others. The explosion was felt throughout the city, and continues to be felt within Sarah Collins Rudolph, also known as the 5th little girl in the basement. She survived that morning. She spoke to me about what it was like to live through the attack then and now.
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The Introduction of Sarah Collins-Rudolph: The story of the fifth little girl who survived the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing The 16th Street Baptist Church will always be known for a horrific act of evil that took place inside. What was known by the community as a place to gather and celebrate life, births, weddings, and other family gatherings evolved into something more. Citizens met to discuss the news of the day, to make plans for their local neighborhoods and to talk about ways to make their community better. Some people in the community saw this activity as a threat and conducted an unimaginable assault on innocent families and children. Four young girls were killed in the bombing that day, and a fifth child survived. Her name is Sarah Collins-Rudolph. This is her story. This book details what the families experienced, and the challenges they faced along the way. It is written for teen readers and adults alike, with illustrations to help visualize their journey.
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16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Survivor Recalls Attack 58 Years Later
Bishop James Lowe recalls the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, an attack which killed four young girls. “Hatred never accomplishes anything.”
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THE BIRMINGHAM ANGELS: THE STORY OF THE SIXTEENTH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH BOMBING
On the morning of September 15th, 1963, four excited little girls were gathered in front of the mirror in the ladies’ lounge of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, adjusting their dresses and busily preparing for their roles as ushers and choir members at the special 11 a.m. “Youth Day” service. Built in 1911, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was an important meeting place for black community leaders who planned peaceful protests there and hoped not only to integrate Birmingham but to send a strong message to the rest of the country that blacks and whites deserved equal rights. At 10:22 a.m. on that fateful Sunday, a bomb planted under the front steps of the church by members of the Ku Klux Klan hate group exploded, blowing a seven foot hole in the bathroom wall and instantly killing 11-year-old Denise McNair, and 14-year-olds Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Cynthia Wesley. This shocking act of violence and tragic loss of innocence in one of the most segregated cities in the United States helped to unite blacks and whites not only in Birmingham, Alabama, but across the entire nation. On the 50th anniversary of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Cynthia Wesley received the Congressional Gold Medal for their roles as catalysts of change in the struggle for civil rights, and for the sacrifice of four young lives filled with endless promise. This book is aimed at third through fifth grade students. and filled with fascinating historical photos.
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Survivor of 1963 Birmingham church bombing describes the act of terror
Four girls were killed when a church was bombed on Sept. 15, 1963, in Birmingham. Sarah Collins Rudolph has a conversation with Ebony Phillips, Vice President of the Greater Atlanta Black Prosecutors Association.
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Bending Toward Justice:
The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights On September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed. The blast killed four young girls and injured twenty-two others. The FBI suspected four particularly radical Ku Klux Klan members. Yet due to reluctant witnesses, a lack of physical evidence, and pervasive racial prejudice the case was closed without any indictments.
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Bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church |
American Freedom Stories | Biography On September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church as church members prepared for Sunday services. The racially motivated attack killed four young girls and shocked the nation.
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This post shows the extent that people will go to deprive others of the right to the America dream. Silence implies consent with the will of those people response to the atroticies . It is time to exercise your desire for the dream for all. A true democracy is for ALL people.