Sixteenth Street Baptist Bombing Timeline

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.
Riots break out, and two African-American boys, Virgil Ware, 13, and Johnny Robinson, 16, are also killed. In all, at least 20 people are injured from the initial bombing and the

The next day, they are joined by 500 police officers and 150 sheriffs' deputies.

September 16, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy responds by saying, "If these cruel and tragic events can only awaken that city and state - if they can only awaken this entire nation to a realization of the folly of racial injustice and hatred and violence, then it is not too late for all concerned to unite in steps toward peaceful progress before more lives are lost."

September 16, 1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holds a press conference in Birmingham, saying that the U.S. Army "ought to come to Birmingham and take over this city and run it."

1965 - Suspects emerge: Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss, and Herman Frank Cash, all Ku Klux Klan members. Witnesses are reluctant to talk and physical evidence is lacking so charges are not filed.

1976 - Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley reopens the case.

September 26, 1977 - Robert Chambliss, 73, a retired auto mechanic and former Ku Klux Klan member, is indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on four counts of first-degree