September 15: On This Day in World History … briefly
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
The Four Spirits sculpture, unveiled at Kelly Ingram Park, September 2013 - Wikipedia
1963 – 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: Four children are killed in the bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was an act of white supremacist terrorism which occurred at the African American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963, when four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted at least 15 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church.
Described by Martin Luther King Jr as ‘one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity’ the explosion at the church killed four girls and injured 22 others.
Ku Klux Klan – Wikipedia
Although the FBI had concluded in 1965 that the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had been committed by four known Ku Klux Klansmen and segregationists – Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr, Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry – no prosecutions ensued until 1977, when Robert Chambliss was tried and convicted of the first degree murder of one of the victims, 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair. Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. and Bobby Cherry were each convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and 2002 respectively, whereas Herman Cash, who died in 1994, was never charged with his alleged involvement in the bombing. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing marked a turning point in the United States during the civil rights movement and contributed to support for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The 16th Street Baptist Church in 2005. The steps beneath which the bomb was planted can be seen in the foreground – Wikipedia
The Four Spirits sculpture was unveiled at Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park in September 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bombing. Crafted in Berkeley, California by Birmingham-born sculptor Elizabeth MacQueen and designed as a memorial to the four children killed on September 15, 1963, the bronze and steel life-size sculpture depicts the four girls in preparation for the church sermon at the 16th Street Baptist Church in the moments immediately before the explosion. The youngest girl killed in the explosion (Carol Denise McNair) is depicted releasing six doves into the air as she stands tiptoed and barefooted upon a bench as another barefooted girl (Addie Mae Collins) is depicted kneeling upon the bench, affixing a dress sash to McNair; a third girl (Cynthia Wesley) is sat upon the bench alongside McNair and Collins with a Bible in her lap. The fourth girl (Carole Robertson) is depicted standing and smiling as she motions the other three girls to attend their church sermon.
The four girls killed in the bombing (Clockwise from top left, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair) – Wikipedia
