September 15, 1963

16th Street Baptist Church bombing

Ku Klux Klan bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church

The church clock stopped at 10:22 a.m. and was left that way. The Sunday lesson scheduled for that morning was "The Love That Forgives."

Youth Day at the 16th Street Baptist Church

Late on the morning of Sunday 15 September 1963, a timed dynamite bomb exploded beneath or beside the east-side steps and rear stairwell of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, as congregants prepared for a Youth Day service.

The church and a National Park Service account preserve 10:22 a.m.; the FBI gives approximately 10:24.

The blast killed Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, all 14, and Denise McNair, who was 11. Seconds earlier, Denise had asked Addie Mae to tie the sash on her dress.

The fifth girl in the room

Five girls were in or near the basement women's lounge, in their Sunday best and preparing to take part in the eleven o'clock service.

Sarah Collins, Addie Mae's younger sister, survived. She lost her right eye and suffered numerous glass wounds.

More than twenty other people were injured; an archived presidential proclamation gives 22, while a contemporary Birmingham newspaper reported 17.

Six children dead by nightfall

The killing did not stop at the church. Before nightfall Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware, two other Black boys, had been shot dead in separate incidents amid the violence that followed.

The FBI's Birmingham office opened an investigation immediately, sending in bomb experts and additional personnel. No bombing suspect was prosecuted for murder at the time.

Four Klansmen became primary suspects; three were eventually convicted — Robert Chambliss in 1977, Thomas Blanton in 2001 and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002 — while Herman Frank Cash died without prosecution.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 8 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

Sources differ slightly on the blast time. The church and an NPS account preserve 10:22 a.m.; the FBI gives approximately 10:24 a.m.
Injury totals vary by source and by whether they count only people treated or everyone reported hurt. The archived presidential proclamation states 22; the FBI says more than 20; a contemporary Birmingham newspaper reported 17.
The warning caller's exact words and the interval before the explosion vary in recollections, including 'two minutes' and 'three minutes.'
Four Klansmen became primary FBI suspects, but only three were tried and convicted. Claims assigning an exact physical role to every suspect should therefore be phrased cautiously.