(P) The sixteenth street baptist church bombing was committed as an act of racial discrimination. The bombing was the first in which people were actually killed. Four girls died, and their deaths were reported all over the world (Baggett).

(Q) "When a bomb made of dynamite detonated at 10:22 am on Sept. 15, 1963, church members were attending Sunday school classes before the start of the 11 am church service" (Parrot-Sheffer).

(S) The Ku Klux Klan placed the bomb in the church in retaliation for school desegregation in Birmingham, Alabama (Baggett).

(P) Although many were able to escape the building, four girls weren't that lucky. Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair all lost there lives after being crushed by rubble in the basement bathroom (History.com Staff).

(Q) "Martin Luther King Jr. preached the sermon at this service, and a crowd estimated at 7,000 people filled the church and the street outside" (Baggett).

(S) After the bombing, riot broke out across Birmingham. Two boys were killed, and the National Guard had to be sent in to support the police officers in calming the uproar (CNN).

(P) The four white supremacists responsible for the bombing were not charged until 1977 when Chambliss was convicted of first degree murder. It wasn't until 2001 and 2002 that the other perpetrators were charged (Burt).

(P) The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing drew a lot of global attention to the Civil Rights Movement in America (History.com Staff).

(P) Birmingham, Alabama was so often bombed by white supremacists that city gained the nickname "Bombingham". The sixteenth street baptist church was one of the key locations for protest organization and activity (Parrot-Sheffer).

First Hand Quote from Sarah Collins Rudolph

(Q) "So, all I could do was say, call out, "Jesus!" because I didn’t know what that loud sound was. And then I called my sister, "Addie! Addie! Addie!" And she didn’t answer me" (Democracy Now).