16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama - On this corner in September of 1963, four KKK members planted at least 15 sticks of dynamite underneath the stairs of this predominately black church. At 10:22am, while church members were preparing for that morning's service, the bombs went off, injuring roughly 20 parishioners and killing 4 little choir girls no older than 14 years of age. Although an investigation was conducted, no murder charges were filed... Instead, three of the four bombers were charged and convicted by the state with illegally possessing and transporting the dynamite. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover himself blocked any federal prosecution and attempted to brush the incident under the rug. In 1968, he actually had the records sealed... It wasn't until 1971 that the Attorney General of Alabama made it a point to reopen the case. He requested the sealed files and fought the FBI for another 7 years before he was finally successful in obtaining them. It was 14 years after the attack that Robert Chambliss was tried and convicted of murder by Alabama. One of the four men passed away in 1994. The following year, the FBI unsealed the evidence they had collected and reopened the investigation. Finally in May of 2000, the two other men were indicted and convicted of murder. In the end, it took 37 years before justice was finally served... I want to take a moment to thank the gentleman I met here for giving me an informal tour of the area and for providing a backstory and his own personal insight. Although I forget his name, he explained that his grandfather was a pastor and a key Civil Rights figure in Birmingham at that time. If anyone knows who he is, I would love to reconnect! (at 16th Street Baptist Church) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB8ncijDZhh/?igshid=76b5hl5mo442
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