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Do not fill this in! ==Bombing== In the early morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, four members of the [[United Klans of America]]—[[Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr.|Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr]]., [[Robert Edward Chambliss]], [[Bobby Frank Cherry]], and (allegedly) [[Herman Frank Cash]]<ref>{{cite web |title=16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (1963) |website=[[National Parks Service]] |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/16thstreetbaptist.htm |access-date=March 28, 2024 }}</ref>—planted a minimum of 15 sticks<ref name="CrimeLibrary.com p. 5">{{Cite web |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/birmingham_church/5.html |title=CrimeLibrary.com p. 5 |access-date=February 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210044215/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/birmingham_church/5.html |archive-date=February 10, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> of dynamite with a time delay under the steps of the church, close to the basement. At approximately 10:22 a.m., an anonymous man phoned the 16th Street Baptist Church. The call was answered by the acting [[Sunday School]] secretary, a 14-year-old girl named Carolyn Maull.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www1.cbn.com/700club/carolyn-mckinstry-choosing-forgive |work=[[Christian Broadcasting Network]] |access-date=May 27, 2019 |title=Carolyn McKinstry: Choosing to Forgive }}</ref> The anonymous caller simply said the words, "Three minutes"<ref name=terror/>{{rp|10}} to Maull before terminating the call. Less than one minute later, the bomb exploded. Five children were in the basement at the time of the explosion,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5394093/16th-street-baptist-church-bombing-anniversary |title=16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Survivors Recall a Day That Changed the Fight for Civil Rights: 'I Will Never Stop Crying Thinking About It' |magazine=Time |access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref> in a restroom close to the stairwell, changing into choir robes<ref name="Eugene Register-Guard Oct. 29, 1985">{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Killer of Four in 1963 Blast Dies in Prison |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yOZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5125,7516950 |work=[[The Register-Guard]] |date=October 29, 1985 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> in preparation for a [[sermon]] entitled "A Rock That Will Not Roll".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nysun.com/obituaries/john-cross-jr-pastor-at-bombed-church-dies-at-82/66673 |title=John Cross Jr. Pastor at Bombed Church, Dies at 82 |work=nysun.com |access-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-date=November 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107181202/https://www.nysun.com/obituaries/john-cross-jr-pastor-at-bombed-church-dies-at-82/66673/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to one survivor, the explosion shook the entire building and propelled the girls' bodies through the air "like rag dolls".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/birmingham_church/4.html |title=The Birmingham Church Bombing: Bombingham |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210044214/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/birmingham_church/4.html |archive-date=February 10, 2015 |work=CrimeLibrary.com |page=4 |access-date=May 28, 2019 }}</ref> The explosion blew a hole measuring {{convert|7|ft|m|spell=in}} in diameter in the church's rear wall, and a [[Explosion crater|crater]] {{convert|5|ft|m|spell=in}} wide and {{convert|2|ft|m|spell=in}} deep in the ladies' basement lounge, destroying the rear steps to the church and blowing a passing motorist out of his car.<ref name=history.com>{{cite web |url=https://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-birmingham-church-bombing |work=History.com |date=September 13, 2013 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |first=Barbara |last=Maranzani |title=Remembering the Birmingham Church Bombing }}</ref> Several other cars parked near the site of the blast were destroyed, and windows of properties located more than two blocks from the church were also damaged. All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were destroyed in the explosion. The sole stained-glass window largely undamaged in the explosion depicted [[Christ]] leading a group of young children.<ref name="Washington Post Sept. 16, 1963" /> Hundreds of individuals, some of them lightly wounded, converged on the church to search the debris for survivors as police erected barricades around the church and several outraged men scuffled with police. An estimated 2,000 black people converged on the scene in the hours following the explosion. The church's [[pastor]], the [[John Cross Jr.|Reverend John Cross Jr.]], attempted to placate the crowd by loudly reciting the [[23rd Psalm]] through a [[Megaphone|bullhorn]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nysun.com/obituaries/john-cross-jr-pastor-at-bombed-church-dies-at-82/66673/ |work=[[The New York Sun]] |title=John Cross Jr., Pastor at Bombed Church, Dies at 82 |first=Matt |last=Schudel |date=November 19, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |archive-date=May 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527142333/https://www.nysun.com/obituaries/john-cross-jr-pastor-at-bombed-church-dies-at-82/66673/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Four girls—Addie Mae Collins (age 14, born April 18, 1949), Carol Denise McNair (age 11, born November 17, 1951), Carole Rosamond Robertson (age 14, born April 24, 1949), and Cynthia Dionne Wesley (age 14, born April 30, 1949)—were killed in the attack.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2013/04/24/house-section/article/H2261-1 |title=Awarding Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley |publisher=[[United States House of Representatives]] |website=congress.gov |date=April 24, 2013 |access-date=March 7, 2015 }}</ref> The explosion was so intense that one of the girls' bodies was [[Decapitation|decapitated]] and so badly mutilated that her body could be identified only through her clothing and a ring.<ref>{{cite news |title=From the archive, 16 September 1963: Black church bombed in Birmingham, Alabama |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/16/16th-street-baptist-church-birmingham-alabama-1963 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=September 16, 2014 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> Another victim was killed by a piece of [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]] embedded in her skull.<ref name=recalls>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94640715 |title=Father Recalls Deadly Blast At Ala. Baptist Church |website=npr.org |date=September 15, 2008 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> The pastor of the church, the Reverend John Cross, recollected in 2001 that the girls' bodies were found "stacked on top of each other, clung together".<ref name="Lakeland Ledger Apr. 25, 2001">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=heRNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6486,3411789 |work=[[The Ledger]] |date=April 25, 2001 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |title=Trial of Bombing Suspect Begins |first=Jay |last=Reeves |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> All four girls were pronounced dead on arrival at the [[UAB Hospital|Hillman Emergency Clinic]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/09/inside_the_emergency_room_wher.html |work=[[al.com]] |date=September 15, 2013 |title='No screaming, only crying': Witnesses remember infamous Sunday of 1963 church bombing (photos, videos) |first=Barnett |last=Wright |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> Between 14 and 22 additional people were injured in the explosion,<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 8, 2019|title=1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Fast Facts|url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/1963-birmingham-church-bombing-fast-facts/index.html|access-date=June 17, 2020|website=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Birmingham Times|date=February 12, 2019|title=New Memorial for 16th St. Baptist Church on Sun, 56 Years After Bombing|url=https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2019/09/new-memorial-for-16th-st-baptist-church-on-sun-56-years-after-bombing/|access-date=June 17, 2020|website=The Birmingham Times|language=en-US}}</ref> one of whom was Addie Mae's younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins.<ref>{{cite news|title=16th Street Baptist Church Bombing: Forty Years Later, Birmingham Still Struggles with Violent Past|work=National Public Radio: All Things Considered|date=September 15, 2003|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1431932 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> She had 21 pieces of glass embedded in her face and was blinded in one eye.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/40-years-for-justice-did-the-fbi-cover-for-the-birmingham-bombers |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |date=September 15, 2013 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |title=40 years for Justice: Did the FBI Cover for the Birmingham Bombers? }}</ref> In her later recollections of the bombing, Collins would recall that in the moments immediately before the explosion, she had watched her sister, Addie, tying her [[sash|dress sash]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm |title=About the 1963 Birmingham Bombing |editor-first=Cary |editor-last=Nelson |work=The Modern American Poetry Site |publisher=Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=June 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620081816/http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another sister of Addie Mae Collins, 16-year-old Junie Collins, would later recall that shortly before the explosion, she had been sitting in the basement of the church reading the [[Bible]] and had observed Addie Mae Collins tying the dress sash of Carol Denise McNair before she returned upstairs to the ground floor of the church.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/beauty-from-the-ashes-of-16th-street-baptist-church/ |work=TheGospelCoalition.org |title=Beauty from the Ashes of 16th Street Baptist Church |date=September 11, 2013 |first=Melissa |last=Huff |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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