The+Bombing+of+The+Church

September 15, 1963, Birmingham, Alabama, approximately 10:24 AM, 16th Street Baptist Church was quiet, before a dynamite bomb detonated in the back stairwell, which killed four African-American girls on the other side; along with injuring 20 more from the blast. The church was both a key civil rights meeting place, and a constant target of bomb threats. The destruction was a clear act of racial hatred.

Numerous investigators checked the scene, practically tearing Birmingham apart for testimonies from witnesses, leaving no stone unturned. Through the investigation, it was found that the Ku Klux Klan was in fact the perpetrators. The Ku Klux Klan for many years has been strictly against equal rights, a strict group who believe that those who are not “white” are inferior and must be controlled fiercely .  By 1965, solid suspects had been found – specifically Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas E. Blanton. All of these men were members of the KKK. Unfortunately, the witnesses of the bombing feared retribution from the Klan, and so were reluctant to speak to the authorities. Physical evidence pointing to the supremacists, and information gathered through surveillances by the FBI was not admissible in court. Due to this, no federal charges were filed in the 1960’s.

During the 1960’s trial, it was claimed that FBI director Hoover held back evidence from the prosecutors, or even tried to block prosecution. However, in 1966 at the request for information from a Justice Department prosecutor, it was found that Hoover had in fact didn’t think that the evidence was there to convict the KKK members. Hoover overruled his staff, and gave the unknowingly vital evidence to the prosecutor.

Eventually, justice was served to the bombers. Robert E. Chambliss received life in prison in 1977. Slowly, the fear that kept witnesses the bombing of the church began to come forth. The case was re-opened in the mid 1990’s, and during another trial, Thomas E. Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry were convicted in one trial, and sentenced life in prison. Herman Frank Cash had died in 1994 without being tried.

-Cesar