Birmingham Reports
Contents
Angela Davis[edit]
Submitted by Antonio Wilson
Angela Y. Davis was born on Jan. 26, 1944 in Birmingham Alabama. She’s a American Socialist and philosopher, that was known to be a member of the Black Panthers Political Party. She is currently now a Professor in History at the University of California, and is the founder of Critical Resistance. As a childhood she grew up in the neighborhood called Dynamite Hill, where racially things happen all the time. Many houses got bombed on “Dynamite Hill”. Many African American homes were bomb in that neighborhood. After high school she receives a full scholarship to Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she was alienated because she was one of the few black students there, than she later went to Hamilton College her junior year in France to continue her intensive study of Sarte. She was known for the lectures she gave and the books she wrote.
Arthur Shores[edit]
Submitted by Katie Kirshbaum
Arthur Davis Shores is described as a "courageous battler for civil rights" and "Alabama's drum major for justice." He was born September 25, 1904 in Jefferson County, Alabama and attended Talladega College and also earned degrees and several other honorary degrees from various institutions. Arthur Shores started working as a teacher, became principal of a high school, and then went on to pass the Alabama Bar exam in 1937. The very next year he successfully sued the Alabama Board of Registrars for refusal to register seven black school teachers to vote. In 1942 Shores represented a black principal and fought the Jefferson County School Board to pay black teachers the same salary as white teachers. Also in 1953 Autherine Lucy, the first black student to attend the University of Alabama, was able to do so from the work of her attorneys Arthur Shores and Thurgood Marshall. Finally, two years later the court's decision to prohibit the university from rejecting Lucy based on her race was made and the decision was amended just days later to include all African Americans applying to University of Alabama. However; only three days after Lucy's enrollment on February 3, 1956, she was expelled for her own safety. Shores and Marshall went back to court but were forced to withdraw the case due to lack of support.
After Lucy's expulsion, Roy WIlkins, the NAACP executive secretary, sent a telegram to the US Attorney General asking for criminal contempt proceedings against those responsible for prohibiting Lucy's attendance of classes at the university. The federal government refused to do so but Lucy's expulsion was eventually overturned in 1988 by the Board of Regents.
Arthur Shores not only participated in the integration of the University of Alabama but also became the first black member of Birmingham City Council in 1960. In 1963 he argued Supreme Court to have the arrests of peaceful demonstrators in Birmingham ruled unconstitutional. Shores is remembered for his intelligence and many accomplishments as well as his dedication to his clients and their justice.
Here is an oral history interview with Shores where he talks about the bombings amongst other topics:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/A-021/A-021.html
Biographies of 16th Street Baptist Church Bombers[edit]
submitted by Arlyn Ilgenfritz
Overview[edit]
- These two men were responsible for the bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL
- Church bombed during a Sunday morning service on Sept 15, 1963
- The bombing was attributed to members of the KKK
- This church played a big role in the civil rights movement
- This day in Sept was youth day at the church, so many young children and teenagers were gathered in the Sunday School rooms at the church
- When the bomb went off, children were walking into the church basement. The bomb killed 4 and injured 22. The stained glass windows were all destroyed, except for the one displaying Jesus leading a group of children.
- This bombing was about racial tensions and was intended to further white supremacy and warn those working on the Civil Rights movement about what could happen if their work continued.
- Instead of reaching this goal, it just inspired further work and success on behalf of the movement.
- The bombers, Robert Chambliss and Bobby Cherry, were KKK members who used 19 sticks of dynamite to cause the explosion. They also had 122 sticks of unregistered dynamite with them.
Robert Chambliss, aka Dynamite Bob[edit]
- Initially charged with the murders but not convicted until 1977.
- He was initially acquitted of the charges
- The FBI had been gathering information that they had not released for all the years between. Hoover felt as if the research and trial would be in vain because a white man would not have been convinced of murdering black children at this time.
- The information was withheld by an order of Hoover (director of the FBI), but was finally released, giving the prosecutors enough evidence to convict him.
- His niece testified against him and also wrote a book about her uncle’s involvement. She quoted him saying, "Just wait until after Sunday morning and they'll beg us to let them segregate!"
- A neighbor also testified against him, stating that there were excessive firecrackers and explosives tied into bundles in his house
- In 1977, Chambliss was convicted of murder in the death of Carol Denise McNair
- Died in prison in 1985
- Claimed innocence until time of death
Bobby Cherry[edit]
- Moved to TX from Ala when the case was reopened in 1970s
- Many considered his conviction in the bad after Chambliss’ in 1977, however it didn’t come
- Held many odd jobs, from truck driving to being a sales clerk
- Married 5 times, fathered 15 children
- For years his lawyers had stated that he was at diminished mental capacity. In 2002, psychologists proved this was a hoax.
- One of his ex-wives and his granddaughter testified against him, telling about his involvement
- May 4, 2000 -- A lawyer for long-time bombing suspect Bobby Frank Cherry says his client rejected a deal in which he would receive probation if he pleaded guilty to transporting explosives over state lines. Cherry continued to deny any involvement in the bombing. Cherry was in jail in Texas on charges of raping his stepdaughter in 1971.
- Used tapes from FBI case that to show that he was a clansman and that he had been associated with Chambliss and Blanton for years, which he previously denied.
- May 2000 - Ku Klux Klan members Thomas Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry surrender to authorities after a Jefferson County, Alabama, grand jury indicts on first-degree murder charges
- After his state court conviction, he was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 and died in 2004, still denying any involvement.
Thomas Blanton[edit]
- Convicted in 2001 with the used of tapes of his home that FBI had planted years before.
- the fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, had died in 1994 without implicating any fellow Klan members