Six Black Children Killed in Birmingham on September 15, 1963: Beyond the Church Bombing

On September 15, 1963, a bomb at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church killed Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley (all 14), and Denise McNair (11). That same day, 13-year-old Virgil Ware was shot by white teenager Michael Lee Farley, and 16-year-old Johnny Robinson was killed by police officer Jack Parker. The church bombing, which injured over 20, was retaliation for school integration. Ware's killers were convicted of second-degree manslaughter and received probation; Parker was never charged. The bombing's perpetrators faced justice only decades later: Robert Chambliss in 1977, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry in the early 2000s. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed the following summer. In 2013, a statue honoring the four bombing victims was unveiled across from the church. Ware's remains were moved to a marked grave in 2004. Both Robinson and Ware are in Birmingham's Gallery of Distinguished Citizens.