“The bombing definitely had a lifelong impact on me”
I was born September 20, 1950, in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham was probably one of the most segregated cities in the country (there were no black police officers, firefighters, store clerks, bus drivers, bank tellers, store cashiers, etc.), but growing up, segregation didn’t mean a lot, because I lived in an all-black neighborhood, went to an all-black school and attended an all-black church. That was all I knew. I imagine our families did a good job shielding us from discrimination because we rarely came in contact with white people. I do recall when going downtown to the movies, we would have to go around to the back and go up some stairs that took us to the balcony, which was the only place we could sit.
The early 1960s was a very tumultuous time in Birmingham and across the country. The March on Washington had ended with Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In the spring of 1963, before Easter, protests which had begun in 1962 to desegregate public facilities intensified with a call to boycott downtown stores. Fred Shuttlesworth and some other local leaders called on Dr. Martin Luther King to assist. During the campaign, Dr. King was arrested. This led to his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” speech. This also led to the “Children’s Crusade,” in which students were asked to get involved in the demonstrations, because many adults feared participating due to possible loss of jobs if arrested. I do recall some of the kids getting involved, including one of my classmates and friend Freeman Hrabowski. But I was not allowed to because my father, as a Birmingham Public School teacher, had been threatened not only of losing his job if he participated, but if it became known that children of teachers participated they still may lose their jobs.
I was a member of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the first black church to organize in Birmingham, dating back to 1873. Throughout its history, many prominent black residents were members and noted dignitaries often spoke at the church. During the Birmingham Movement, the church became the center of activity, with Dr. King and others speaking and leading rallies and many of the protests originating from the church. So, it was not a coincidence that it might be singled out for some racist violence.
As an early entrant in elementary school, I graduated from elementary school at age 12. In the fall of 1963, I was beginning my freshman year in high school at Birmingham’s Ullman High School. September 15, 1963, began like any other Sunday with preparation for Sunday School/Church. As I often did, I was staying with my aunt/uncle and my three cousins for the weekend. Two of my younger cousins were not ready so my aunt had asked a neighbor to take my oldest cousin and me to Sunday School and they would arrive later. I remember in class we were studying the lesson: The Love That Forgives. (Matt. 5:44-45; Luke 6:27) In the abstract, it seemed possible, a noble gesture. But little did I realize how soon the lesson would be put to the test. Because at 10:22, just before class ended, the message and the building were shattered from the blast of a powerful bomb, leaving a massive hole and crater (7×7 ft hole and crater 5 ft wide 2 ft deep) in one side of the building, blowing out windows, filling the building with dust and debris, darkness! Just before class ended, four of my classmates had left to go prepare for the Youth Day Program which was scheduled for the 11:00 am service. (I was a member of the orchestra and was going to participate on the program but didn’t need to leave early.) They were in the ladies restroom and unfortunately, a stack of dynamite (19 sticks) had been placed under an outside staircase near the restroom. They did not make it out! Not to be too graphic, but to show you the extent of the horror, one of the girls was found with a brick lodged in her head. Another’s head was decapitated, she was able only to be identified by a ring on her finger. Four innocent young girls. Four classmates. One, Denise McNair, age 11, was my cousin. One, Cynthia Wesley, age 14, was a high school freshman classmate. We sat beside each other in class five days a week! The other two, both age 14, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins.
Immediately following the explosion, we were all in a daze, in the dark, trying to find our way out of the building. My cousin, who I had come to church with and I for some reason started walking home, because no one in our family was yet at church. We had only made it a few blocks when my aunt and my father both found us. My aunt took my cousin home. Because I had some glass/debris in my head and was still bleeding, my dad took me to the emergency room to get treated.
The next day, it was “business as usual.” I don’t recall any follow up conversation about the bombing. Though this was a domestic terrorist attack with children killed, unlike the mass shootings (domestic terrorist attacks of today), there was no counseling for the PTSD we definitely experienced. In fact, I recall little being said or done related to the survivors. I am thankful to Bishop James Lowe of The Guiding Light Church in Birmingham for bringing a group of the survivors together on the 50th anniversary in 2013 to honor the survivors and offer a period of reflection.
Also, though it was known and four men identified as responsible for the attack, only one, Robert Chambliss, was arrested at the time. The other three, Herman Cash, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry were not arrested at the time. Chambliss was arrested, found with 122 sticks of dynamite (planning to do much more destruction). However, on October 8, 1963, he was found not guilty of murder and sentenced for 6 months with a $100 fine for the dynamite. It was not until November 1977, 14 years later, that Chambliss was tried again by the new State Attorney General, Bill Baxley, and found guilty, sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1985. I had the privilege of being selected as a witness at the trial. I also was interviewed at the time by the Public Broadcasting Corporation.
In 1994, one of the bombers, Herman Frank Cash, died without being charged. In May 2001 Thomas Blanton was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 4 life terms. In 2016, he requested but was denied parole. He died in prison in 2020. In May 2002 Bobby Frank Cherry was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 4 life terms. He died in prison in 2004.
The bombing definitely had a lifelong impact on me. As my childhood faith was put to test as a result of the incident: A Love That Forgives; Love Your Enemies, I knew the perpetrators and anyone of similar mind had to be my enemies and that I should love and forgive them, but it was much easier said than done. I do recall Dr. King stating that: “Darkness cannot drive out Darkness, only Light can do that. Hate cannot drive out Hate, only Love can do that!” So, at that early age, I did vow to do whatever I could, in any way that I could to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. While at college at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the late ‘60s, I interacted with Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, John Lewis and others who came to the school to help provide an awareness to the students. During the unrest all over the country following Dr. King’s death in 1968, I faced the barrel of rifles of the Tennessee National Guard as they came on campus. While attending graduate school at Atlanta University I participated in several community campaigns with the late Reverend Hosea Williams, one of Dr. King’s lieutenants during the movement. This Dr. King connection came full circle when in the late 1980s (1986-1988) I had the privilege of working at the Martin Luther King Center for Social Change with Mrs. Coretta Scott King and Dr. King’s sister Mrs. Farris.
Future jobs have all been “in service,” either in the public sector or nonprofit sector, trying to improve the lives of others.
Now semi-retired, it is ironic that it seems like the current political climate is so similar to that of over 50 years ago. Hatred of all types seems to have resurfaced. Domestic terrorism is on the rise. White Nationalism is spreading. Racism is again becoming very overt. [Blank] while Black is under attack—driving, walking, in the park, in the dorm, in the apartment building, etc., etc.
Back then, the four girls’ deaths seemed to galvanize and awaken the conscience of the city, state and nation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, as was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, recently with Charlottesville and Charleston and widespread voter suppression in 2016 and 2018 elections and the Supreme Court several years ago striking down parts of the Voting Rights Act, it seems like we may be moving backwards now rather than forward.
As we reflect on the past, it is my desire that people of good will once again rise to the occasion and join in the efforts to create Dr. King’s Beloved Community and fulfill his Dream.
May God Bless Us All!
In October 2025, Jonathan Jones wrote this story expressly for publication with Kids in Birmingham 1963.