Birmingham Church Bombing 1963 Essay Example

church, the Sunday school was preparing for their annual Youth Sunday service. At that time, several hundred adults including Father John Cross, whose own house had been bombed three times, were also in attendance. At 10:22 am, when children were walking into the basement assembly room for closing prayers, the bomb exploded. The explosion blew a hole in the church's rear wall, destroyed the back steps, and left intact only the frames of all but one stained-glass window.

Even after the deaths of four innocent school girls (Denise McNair, 11, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, all 14) and 20 injuries America was slow to react while at the same time acts of violence and discrimination continued with the aftermath of the bombing. The reason could be only simplified to a deep-rooted problem. African-Americans, up until that point continued to struggle in their fight for equality in a land that long considered this group as some sort of a sub-human species. They had to fight for what was right but they could not because of “the white man’s rules”.

They had to resist not with the use of weapons. But, with reason appealing to the white man’s sense of right and wrong. Within days the police were almost certain that the people responsible were members of the KKK, the key suspect was Dynamite Bob Chambliss, A Klan suspected in many Birmingham Bombings. After a careless investigation Chambliss and two other Klan’s were only convicted to the minor charge of dynamite possession. That finding was over turned on appeal. An FBI investigation resulted in no arrest, no charges.