Which 1963 church bombing in Birmingham killed four Black girls and intensified national support for civil-rights legislation?
Answer
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
The 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four Black girls was the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
A bomb exploded at the church in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963. The victims were Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, who were attending Sunday school. The blast also injured more than 20 people.
The church served as a meeting place for civil-rights activists during the Birmingham Campaign. Its destruction exposed the deadly consequences of white-supremacist violence and intensified national outrage over racial terrorism and segregation.
Investigators identified Ku Klux Klan members as responsible, but meaningful prosecutions took decades. Robert Chambliss was convicted in 1977; Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry were convicted in 2001 and 2002. The church remains an important civil-rights landmark in Birmingham.