16th+Street+Baptist+Church+Bombing

On Sunday, September 15 1963, the baptist church on 16th Street in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed. This was a disgusting act of racism in America. It was a subject of a terrorist attack by the Ku Klux Klan. 23 people in the church were hurt by the explosions, but four young African-American girls, were killed while attending sunday school- Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, and Carol Robertson. This explosion was carried out by a Ku Klux Klan splinter group, the Cabaha boys. Robert Chambliss, who was part of the Cabaha boys, was witnessed sneaking 122 sticks on dynamite under the church steps. As the news story about the four girls reached the national and international press, many felt that they had not taken the Civil Rights struggle seriously enough. The city of Birmingham initially offered a $52,000 reward for the arrest of the bombers. Governor George Wallace offered an additional $5,000. However, civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that "the blood of four little children ... is on your hands. Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder." The bombing continued to increase worldwide sympathy for the civil rights cause. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ensuring equal rights of African Americans before the law. Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss arrested for illegally posessing dynamite and not charged with murder until 1977.Chambliss died in jail, never publicly admitting to the bombing. It wasn't until May 17, 2000 that Robert Chambliss, and three others, Herman Cash, Thomas Blanton, and Bobby Cherry were finally convicted of murder. Herman Cash was already dead, but Blanton and Cherry were arrested and sentenced to life in prison.