Lillian Smith Ms. Maide Language and Literature 10 H 3/5/18 The Birmingham Church Bombing On September 15, 1963, African Americans from Birmingham, Alabama were having a Sunday church service in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. When out of the blue a pack of dynamite was tossed through the window setting off a huge explosion in the vestibule. The explosion destroyed the church and made Birmingham residents realize the extreme lengths that racists will go to ensure African Americans remained scared and powerless. 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. …show more content…
The four children that died were, Denise McNair who was eleven, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Collins and Carol Robertson who, when they lost their lives were fourteen. This attack not only killed children but also “Sixteen others—parishioners and people just walking past the church—were injured” (40 years for Justice: Did the FBI Cover for the Birmingham Bombers?). People of the parish that survived the terrorist attack were shaken with fear for themselves, families and communities. “In church! My, God, we’re not even safe in church,”(The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.) said an anguished woman running from the wreckage. The people in the church were devastated at the death and destruction that occurred on such holy grounds. Martin Luther King, the face of the Civil Rights Movement later visited the site and “can remember thinking, was it all worth it? Was there any hope?. In Birmingham which we all believed to be a city redeemed, a crucifixion had taken place” (The Autobiography of Martin Luther King,