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The Black people of Birmingham, Alabama were riding high on a wave of euphoria. It was 18 days after the incredible March on Washington with it’s motivational speeches. Months before the city’s Black folks had been galvanised into an immovable force of passive resisters by Martin Luther King. And now, on Sunday, September 15, 1963 four hundred of those Black folk were crowded into the 16th Street Baptist Church, which had served as the rallying point of the Summer marches, for worship. At about 10:15, a group of young girls had just completed their Sunday School lesson and were down in the basement getting changed into their Choir gowns.
At that same moment a white Ku Klux Klan member by the name of Robert Edward Chambliss stood nearby waiting to put his own stamp on civil rights history. At 10:19 Chambliss threw 19 sticks of dynamite into the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church. It ripped apart the basement and took way the lives of four beautiful young girls: Addie May Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair. 22 more people were injured in the blast.
Police and firemen rushed to the church. As they arrived, several of them noticed Chambliss standing around watching the commotion. Before the crowds got too big, however, he had disappeared. Soon the shock of the local black people had transformed into a deep seated rage. Many elements within the Black community outrightly rejected the passive resistance message, urging a violent reprisal. They knew that there would be no serious attempts to find the perpetrators of this outrage and were ready to take the law into their own hands. The community leaders, however, were ultimately able to control these elements. That night, however, the city was in chaos. City police and state troopers combed the city in an attempt to keep the lid on things. Mayor Albert Boutwell encouraged people to “please stay home tonight.” Despite this ,however, there was violence. A 16 year old Black boy was shot dead by a police man after throwing a rock. Another black boy, 13 year old Virgil Ware was attacked while riding on a bicycle. Two white youths beat him to death.
Meanwhile Robert Chambliss appeared to have gotten away with the murder of four little girls. Dynamite Bob as he was known was actually responsible for most of the bombings that had been plaguing Alabama for the past few years. Due to a lack of information sharing between the FBI and state and local officials, the investigations floundered. Witnesses were also too scared to come forth. It took 13 years until Chambliss was finally required to face up to what he had done. In that year the Justice department decided to share it’s information with the State Attorney General. At last it was possible to bring first degree murder charges against Robert Chambliss. In 1977 he was convicted for the murders of the four girls and sentenced to life prison sentences. It was widely believed that Chambliss had accomplices, yet he steadfastly refused to talk. He died in prison in 1985, at the age of 81. In 1988 the case was reopened, in an attempt to bring the accomplices to justice. No arrests were forthcoming, however.
In 1997 the FBI once again reopened the case. Police set about reinterviewing witnesses to the bombing that had taken place 34 years before. Agents spent months poring over volumes of information and evidence. Again , however, no further arrests were made. This despite the authorities being convinced that three other Ku Klux Klan members were heavily involved in the bombing along with Chambliss. They may never find themselves behind bars for the cowardly crime but they will daily be convicted by their consciences.
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