“The bombing definitely had a lifelong impact on me”

Jonathan Jones

Age 12 in 1963

At age 12, Jonathan survived the 1963 church bombing. He has spent a lifetime putting into practice the Sunday School lesson for that day: “The Love That Forgives.”

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.

In October 2025, Jonathan Jones wrote this story expressly for publication with Kids in Birmingham 1963.