Login or create an account to save resources to your bookmark collection. Four girls, Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14), were killed in the bomb blast. The costly raid convinced the German high command that the Luftwaffe could not achieve air supremacy over Britain, and the next read more, During the Battle of the Somme, the British launch a major offensive against the Germans, employing tanks for the first time in history. Denise McNair performed in plays, dance routines and poetry readings to raise money for muscular dystrophy research. Failed to delete memorial. Now lunch counters were no longer closed to blacks, and a federal court had just ordered white schools in the city to admit black children. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Three day after the bombing, funeral services were held for Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, both 14, and 11-year-old Denise McNair. Add to your scrapbook. Both READ THE REST, In this video, Atlas Obscura digs out an ancient, giant fish from the archives of the Wet Specimen Collection at Chicago's Field Museum. Seven years later, the Southern Poverty Law Center was created and began enforcing the Act in civil rights lawsuits. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Try again. This photo shows President Kennedy's visit to Redstone Arsenal on Sept. 11, 1962. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Addie Mae Collins was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 18, 1949. of First off, Medical Apartheid is a must-read, detailing the disturbing history of how medical science has used black Americans, living and dead, as part of experimentation and training. But there had been nothing so evil as the dynamiting of children during Sunday School.. Family members linked to this person will appear here. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. A well-known Klan member, Robert Chambliss, was charged with murder and with buying 122 sticks of dynamite. Service. based on information from your browser. She married James Bartlett Stuart on 23 June 1905, in Grayson, Texas . Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. The second sentence shows that the girls were involved in their church and contributing to this important service. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. The Collins family appears in the 1997 Spike Lee film 4 Little Girls, a documentary on the bombing and its political significance. Though Cash died in 1994, Cherry and Blanton were arrested and charged with four counts of murder in 2000. Victims (from left): Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14, are shown in these 1963 photos. The murders touched off nationwide outrage. [29] With California booming, thanks to the 1849 Gold Rush, Americans east and west had been clamoring for read more, Mary Clarissa Agatha Miller, later known as Agatha Christie, is born on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, Devon, England. Later that day, 13-year-old Virgil Ware, riding on the handlebars of a bicycle in Docena, was shot by two young white men. Immediately after the blast, church members wandered dazed and bloodied, covered with white powder and broken stained glass, before starting to dig in the rubble to search for survivors. Carole Robertson, 14, was a high-achieving student who played the clarinet, sang in elementary school choirs and was a member of her high schools marching band. In 1998, the Collins family requested that Addie Mae's body be exhumed and moved to another cemetery. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. The SPLCidentifiedwhite nationalists and neo-Nazis at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Knoxville, Tennessee; Washington, D.C.; and Dallas just days after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis. Following his victory, Ali retired from boxing, only to make a read more. Boing Boing is published under a Creative Commons The whole world had watched in awe as the children in Birmingham made history. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. She attended Hill Elementary School and was an enthusiastic softball player and budding artist. Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, USA. Thirty-five years ago a bomb killed four little girls in a Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The whole church shook. CIVIL RIGHTS MARTYRSHE DIED SO FREEDOM MIGHT LIVE, Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. On the morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, 14-year-old Collins was in the church basement room with a group of other children. An eyewitness saw four white men plant the bomb. When the debris was searched for survivors, the bodies of four young girls were found: Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, and Carole Robertson. Who will be eaten first? Check out how leafcutter ants work in spectacular close-up video, Weird science and tech are bringing magick back, Look into the empty eyes of an ancient, giant fish, Start your musical journey with the Populele Smart Ukulele, now only $159.99, Enjoy a new vantage view of your computer with this portable 15.6-inch OLED screen, now only $396, This beautifully refurbished MacBook Pro is a great price for a limited time, Terms As director of theCivil Rights Memorial Center, also operated by the SPLC, I honor the girls spirits every day by making sure that the world never forgets their names names that should be remembered just like those of other unarmed Black people who have been killed recently, includingGeorge Floyd,Breonna Taylor,Tony McDade,Sean Reed,Yassin Mohamed,Ahmaud Arbery,Rayshard Brooksand too many more. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. This browser does not support getting your location. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. They were nervous and anxious for the event to begin. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. After television news cameras revealed the brutal force unleashed on the children, city officials were forced to reform their harsh segregation laws. "Darkness will not last forever. Ministers homes, a black-owned hotel, and other churches had been wrecked. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. Fred Shuttlesworth officiated instead. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Just as the deaths of the four girls in Birmingham led to public outrage and a renewed commitment to civil rights, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations against police brutality this year have ushered in a renewed sense of hope that our nation may one day find a meaningful way to address systemic anti-Black racism not only in law enforcement, but also in all of our institutions and society at large. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Photo by Horace Cort/AP Images. Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, USA. Khrushchev came to power in the Soviet Union read more, Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson captures Harpers Ferry, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), and some 12,000 Union soldiers as General Robert E. Lees army moves north into Maryland. The murders touched off nationwide outrage. Her sister, Sarah, then 12, survived but lost one of her eyes and her dream of becoming a nurse. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. To this day, the location of Addie Mae's body remains a mystery. The North Vietnamese forces had launched a massive offensive, called the Nguyen Hue or Easter Offensive, on March 31, with three main read more, William Howard Taft is born in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 15, 1857. The resulting explosion killed four girls Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair. Civil Rights Figure. At 10:19 AM the bomb exploded, blowing a hole in the east side of the church, shattering windows, walls, and doors and injuring or killing 24 people. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? One. That morning twenty-six children were in the church's basement assembly room preparing for the service when the bomb exploded. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. Now, as our nation confronts multiple assaults on democratic values, we hold firm in the fight to protectand to expanddemocracy through social justice education. It didnt matter what race they were. There was a problem getting your location. The man at right is unidentified. Addie Mae Collins was born on 18 April 1949 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Born one of seven children, the daughter of Adele Marie Fairconeture and Oscar L. Collins. A 73-year-old Klansman named Robert Chambliss was charged with first-degree murder, and the jury found him guilty. She was a member of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham which was, due to the spacious basement auditorium, the center for meetings of the civil rights movement. Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? This is how we can honor Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and the countless others who have lost their lives to the hands of hate. Vernon Merritt photo, More than 1,600 people attended the memorial service for Carole Rosamond Robertson on Sept. 17, 1963. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, and Cynthia Wesley were then interred during joint funeral attended by over 8,000 mourners. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Another two suspects were charged and convicted in 2001 and 2002, a fourth suspect died before charges were brought. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, and Cynthia Wesley were interred during joint funeral attended by over 8,000 mourners. and affiliate links. "We've been expecting this all along.". Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, both 14, had been chosen to serve as ushers. In 1997 a documentary film on the bombing called "4 Little Girls" was released. That same day, news reports described the federal hunt for the bombers as rivaling the search for John Dillinger. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Why did the author include the details about the girls chatting nervously, straightening their fancy white dresses and participating in the choir and as ushers? .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger, Adnan Syed: A Complete Timeline of His Trial, Appeal and Killing of Hae Min Lee. The right computer monitor canmake or READ THE REST, We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? Fear and resentment of our nations growing diversity are at the heart of the hate that has been swelling across America for years. Photo byThe Washington Post Photo/Hal Yeager/Getty Images. This is different from intentionally seeking out the bodies of black people because you think they're less human or that their consent matters less, Washington writes. The16th Street Baptist Churchwas at the center of Birmingham's African American community, hosting mass meetings and serving as the staging area for multiple civil rights marches. And we must hold our leaders accountable for their words because those words inspire others to act, sometimes with deadly consequences. Three men were convicted of murdering Addie Mae Collins long after her death, in trials held between 1977 and 2002. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Taft was born into a politically active family; his father had served as President Ulysses S. Grants secretary of war. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. You can always change this later in your Account settings. In 1992, nearly 30 years after the bombing, the Collins family decided to move Addie Mae's remains to Elmwood Cemetery. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Choose one sentence from the text that illustrates why this bombing was so different from the other acts of hatred. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. The bomb collapsed a basement wall, killing Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson - all 14 - and Denise McNair, 11, in a lounge they used for changing into their choir robes. This is a carousel with slides. That part of the story is pretty well-known. GREAT NEWS! One of the chapters in this book is all about the cadaver trade and how black Americans have historically made up a disproportionate percentage of those cadavers. So it should come as no surprise that weve seen this dangerous and inherently violent ideology once again become part of themainstream political realm. In May 1963, city and civil rights leaders negotiated the integration of public spaces, sparking widespread violence. The federal Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, passed in 1968, effectively led to the end of grave robbing and the deliberate bias that went with it. The first sentence illustrates the girls as any other girls their age. Original caption: Alabama-Birmingham-bombings-Body being removed at 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. When the debris was searched for survivors, the bodies of four young girls were found; Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, and Carole Robertson. Verify and try again. After Hitlers accession to the offices of president and chancellor of Germany, he set about the task of remaking his adopted country (Hitler had to pull some read more. On September 15, 2008, the venerable Wall Street brokerage firm Lehman Brothers seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest victim of the subprime mortgage crisis that would devastate financial markets and contribute to the biggest economic downturn since the read more, Frankie Valli (born Francis Casteluccio) had been hard at work trying to become a star for the better part of a decade before the Four Seasons achieved their breakthrough. SPLC is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization (EIN: 63-0598743), Local Policing and Immigration Enforcement, Request for Legal Assistance Economic Justice, plays, dance routines and poetry readings, good student who loved reading and dancing. Martin Luther King, Jr., eulogized her, and her tombstone bears the rousing inscription "She Died So Freedom Might Live.". The benefits of learning to play READ THE REST, We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Try again later. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. She died on 15 September 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Rev. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Search above to list available cemeteries. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. The murders touched off nationwide . This year, relatives of Addie Mae Collins, one of the girls that was killed, wanted to move her body to another burial site and found that it wasn't there. Whether you need a laptop for READ THE REST. Members of the Ku Klux Klan planted a box of dynamite at the church, which was a major organizing center for the black community and civil rights protests. Then people began to search through the rubble for victims. Please try again later. On Sunday morning, September 15, 1963, several members of the KKK tunneled under the church and planted 122 sticks of dynamite near what was the girls' basement rest room. Addie Mae Collins, 14, and Denise McNair, 11, were in the choir. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. In the wake of the Battle of the Marneduring which Allied troops halted the steady German push through Belgium and France that had proceeded over the first month of World War Ia conflict both sides had expected to be short and decisive turns longer and bloodier, as Allied and read more, ARVN forces recapture Quang Tri City after four days of heavy fighting, with the claim that over 8,135 NVA had been killed in the battle. Failed to report flower. With its large African American congregation, the 16th Street Baptist Church served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., who once called Birmingham a symbol of hardcore resistance to integration. Alabamas governor, George Wallace, made preserving racial segregation one of the central goals of his administration, and Birmingham had one of the most violent and lawless chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. Photo by AP Images. For more on the ceremony, please visit this story. George Wallacefor creating the toxic climate that led to the church bombing. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Thanks for your help! During the next two weeks, Khrushchevs visit dominated the news and provided some dramatic and humorous moments in the history of the Cold War. Although a subsequent FBI investigation identified three other menBobby Frank Cherry, Herman Cash and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr.as having helped Chambliss commit the crime, it was later revealed that FBI chairman J. Edgar Hoover blocked their prosecution and shut down the investigation without filing charges in 1968. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. "Such heinous acts have added to the already heavy burden of fighting for the right of people to govern themselves," the statement read. Copyright 1998 NPR. We have set your language to Only a few feet away, beneath a stone staircase along the outside wall of the church, a dynamite bomb had been planted eight hours earlier. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. Here are photos from that day: Original caption: NEWS FILE/TOM SELF Firefighters sift through rubble and search for bodies in the basement of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church after a bomb killed four girls on Sunday, September 15, 1963. The lives of all four girls intertwined and tragically ended at 10:21 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15, 1963,when a bomb planted by Klansmen outside the ladies lounge at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham exploded, instantly killing them and injuring 20 others. The bombing occurred days after black students began attending Birmingham city schools. Cynthia Wesley, 14, was born Cynthia Morris and raised by a single mother, but she spent weekdays with adoptive parents in Birminghamto attend a better school, where she excelled in math, reading and band. But it's worth noting, as we think about racism and the way it tends to work in America today that is, as entrenched systems and socially supported biases, rather than as intentional expressions of overt hatred that there are still some big disparities in which people end up as med school cadavers and organ donors. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. He attended college at Yale University, graduating second in his class. She attended the 16th Street Baptist Church with her parents, Julius and Alice, as well as her six siblings. Unexplainably, no one was charged with the crime. To honor the girls sacrifice and the powerful impact it had on the civil rights movement, their names were inscribed on the circular black granite table of theCivil Rights Memorialacross the street from the SPLCs headquarters in Montgomery. One of them was Addie Mae Collins sister Sarah, who was blinded in one eye. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots.