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16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Research Paper

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Thousands of acts of white supremacy that targeted blacks all around the world. But there was only one act of white supremacy that catapulted the Civil Rights Movement to a new chapter. The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing was the spark that ignited a nation to bring an end to segregation and racism and brought the Civil Rights Movement to a new era. Martin Luther King Jr. stated “The innocent blood of these little girls may well serve as a redemptive force that will bring new light to this dark city.” Martin was correct with his statement. Many people such as Martin were outraged by the bombing and protested as well as bringing about change in the United States. The Huffington post stated,“Racism is the most powerful force that can completely erase the humanity of human beings,” Dorothy Roberts, a law and sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, told The Huffington Post. “It’s a perverse sickening combination of very deeply embedded assumptions and experiences, but also the stake that people have in their privileges.” There are many instances where this has shown throughout history. …show more content…

On Sunday, September 15, 1963, there was an explosion that killed 4 girls and injured 22 others at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama (“Vigilance and Victory”). In spite of the deaths, this act of white supremacy was the one that united the nation to combat segregation and discrimination. The 4 KKK members who had induced such pain and sorrow in many Americans were Thomas Edwin Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry. (“16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, Wikipedia”). These four men intended to slow down the progression of the Civil Rights Movement, but rather sprung it ahead into the creation of the Civil Rights Act which desegregated many public areas.

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September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. At least 14 others are injured in the explosion, including Sarah Collins, the 12-year-old sister of Addie Mae Collins, who loses an eye. Three former Ku Klux Klan members are eventually convicted of murder for the bombing. Victims: Addie Mae Collins, 14 Denise McNair, 11 Carole Robertson, 14 Cynthia Wesley, 14 Timeline: September 15, 1963 - Four girls are killed and 14 injured in a bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Four innocent lives taken, twenty-two people injured, causing affliction in the families lives. Because of Birmingham having a big impact United States and the Civil Rights Movement, it changed racial history. The KKK had a momentous role in the Racial equality fight, The Civil Rights Movement. Birmingham 16th Street Church Bombing had a significant impact on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

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In the aftermath, thousands of black protesters gathered at the scene of the bombing. When the police went to break up the protests, violence broke out across the city. Many people were arrested and two young African American men died before the National Guard was called in and restored order. Also, the bombing impacted the support to end segregation greatly and adding more support from many angry people because of the four innocent little girl’s

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In 1963, many blacks participated in the March in Washington D.C. to hear Martin King Jr. 's famous speech. President John F. Kennedy praised it for its "quiet dignity." After two weeks, a bomb exploded in which four young girls were murdered in Birmingham church at Sunday school. Since, there was a lack of enforcement of Civil Rights laws and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. violence ensued. The nonviolence approach became less popular due to increase of unemployment and the growing concentration of African Americans in urban centers.

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The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing marked a turning point during the Civil Rights Movement. Intended as a meeting place for civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., the the attack created an uproar. The bombing took place in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and it was an act of white supremacist terrorism performed by the Klu Klux Klan. Sticks of dynamite were placed beneath the front steps of the church and went off as four colored girls were innocently walking by. Morrison utilizes the historic event by incorporating it with Guitar’s job as a Seven Days member: “Four little colored girls had been blown out of a church, and his mission was to approximate as best he could a similar death of four little white girls come Sunday, since

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Emmett Till: the murder the propelled the civil rights movement In the early 1900s, racism was about as common anything you could imagine throughout the southern states. The white people had the authority over the black people, however the blacks and whites that were against racial discrimination, grew tired and angry of this and decided to do something about it. This was called the civil rights movement. There were many events some small and some big but, the murder of Emmett Till was certainly a big event considering its effect and what happened.

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That Sunday was the Annual youth day service. Before the explosion the girls were in the restroom fixing themselves for the service. “They were nervous and they were excited” (The Birmingham Church Bombing 14). The Bombing of the 16th street Baptist church influenced American history by furthering the Civil rights movement. By the incident and the violent clash between protesters and police that followed helped draw national attention to the hard fought, often dangerous struggle for civil rights for African Americans.

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This along with other events triggered riots, protests and the involvement of the 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy or JFK. This horrific bombing was one of the final desperate attacks on stopping the Civil Rights Movement, which was a train going full speed ahead.

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So many famous activists joined those demonstrations and Dr. Martin Luther King JR. one of them. In September 1963, a bomb planted by White supremacists and 4 little girls killed, more than 20 children injured. This crusade not just black people movements and at the same time white people movements. Because not just black people supported, white people supported to .

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(“Birmingham Baptist Church Bombing." n.pag.). The 16th Street Church bombing shows the effects of segregation and racism, the lack of boundaries, the significance of churches, what the KKK believes in and the extent of

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On September 15, 1963, a couple of weeks after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, four girls die in a bombing at Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist church. Three days later, King delivered a speech at their funeral. In his eulogy, King claims that although the children were “unoffending, innocent, and beautiful . . . victims,” they were also “martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity” who “died nobly.” The speech shows another perspective of King’s leadership and how he links American political ideas to Christian religious ideas.

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Black communities were protesting but it was only really affecting the people who were just following orders from people higher up. “They had touched upon something deeper than protest or religion; though now images of all the church meetings of my life welled up within me with much suppressed

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The Tulsa Race Riot was the destruction of Black Wall Street in 1921, which was caused by an allegation of a white woman accusing a black man of rape. It lasted from May 31st to June 1st. The Tulsa Race Riot caused plenty of damage from “dozens of deaths [and] hundreds of injuries” to the destruction of Black Wall Street leading to unemployment of the black community (Hoberock n. pag.). An estimated property loss was over $2.3 million. This was an important event in our Nation’s history because “it teaches how far hatred [and violence] can go” (Hoberock n. pag.).

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This wasn 't completely successful though as a number of bombings took place against African Americans by the kkk including one at a motel where Martin Luther king was staying and one on a church that killed 4 African

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