How Was The Birmingham Church Bombing Affect The Civil Rights Movement?

During the mid 1900s the Civil Rights Movement sparked and reached its peak as it caused mass controversy within our country, especially within the southern states, controversy that continued throughout the rest of the century. This fire burned brightly and the movement had more attention and support than ever. Despite the support it received there were still those that attempted to diminish its blaze and douse the flame entirely through the belief of white supremacy, the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race, and should therefore dominate society. White supremacist groups and individuals attempted to hinder the movement through acts of unimaginable violence like the lynching of Emmett

On September 15th, 1963 a predominantly black church that served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders was bombed. Within that church resided four young girls, and their deaths produced outrage, such outrage that it drew national attention as it continued to shock and horrify citizens across the country. More than 8,000 people attended the funeral where civil rights leader Martin Luther King gave the eulogy. King took this act of terrible violence committed by the Klu Klux Klan, one of the largest and most influential white supremacist groups, and used it to fuel his endeavors so that these girls’ death would not be in vain. King spoke to this in his eulogy, “They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about WHO murdered them, but about the system, the way of life and the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly to make the American dream a reality.” (King). King continued to push for his ideology despite the threat the bomb posed to him, and despite the death of these girls. This did not just reach civil rights leaders, but also had a strong effect on a deep rooted white southerner, Charles Morgan Jr.. The day following the bomb Morgan gave the following speech, “Four little girls were killed in Birmingham yesterday. A mad, remorseful worried community asks, "Who did it? Who threw that bomb? Was it a Negro or a white?" The answer should be, "We all did it." Every last one of us is condemned for that crime and the bombing before it and a decade ago. We all did it.” (Morgan). The death of these girls inspired these speeches, which in turn inspired thousands of others to realize the violence they had created within their controversy. Instead of tearing the Civil Rights Movement down with their