![]() Chambliss was convicted in 1977 and died in prison in 1985. The investigation into the bombing was stalled early and left dormant for long stretches, but two other ex-Klansmen, Robert Chambliss and Bobby Frank Cherry, also were convicted in the bombing in separate trials. Moderates could no longer remain silent and the fight to topple segregation laws gained new momentum. The church bombing, exposing the depths of hatred by white supremacists as Birmingham integrated its public schools, was a tipping point of the civil rights movement. “That he died at this moment, when the country is trying to reconcile the multi-generational failure to end systemic racism, seems fitting,” Jones said in a statement. Doug Jones, who prosecuted Blanton, said the fact that Blanton remained free for almost 40 years after the bombing “speaks to a broader systemic failure to hold him and his accomplices accountable.” When asked by the judge during sentencing if he had any comment, Blanton said: “I guess the good Lord will settle it on judgment day.” Ivey, in a statement, called the bombing “a dark day that will never be forgotten in both Alabama’s history and that of our nation.” In May 2001, Blanton was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. ![]() He was being held at Donaldson prison near Birmingham, prison officials said. Kay Ivey’s office said Blanton died of natural causes. (AP) - Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., the last of three one-time Ku Klux Klansmen convicted in a 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four Black girls and was the deadliest single attack of the civil rights movement, died Friday in prison, officials said. ![]() Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.īIRMINGHAM, Ala. Edgar Hoover had blocked prosecution of Klansmen in the bombing.Īssociated Press Writer Daniel Yee in Atlanta contributed to this report.This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Justice Department concluded that former FBI Director J. The investigation remained quiet until 1997 when agents went to Texas to talk to Cherry.Ī decade earlier, the U.S. But I’m not responsible for it.”Ī 1993 meeting in Birmingham between FBI officials and black ministers led to the re-opening of the bombing case against Blanton and Cherry. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. and that’s why I’m here,” Blanton told the television station from St. “I think I was cleverly set up by the government. In a 2006 interview with Birmingham station WBRC-TV, he claimed the government used trumped-up evidence and lies to gain his conviction. senator, said in the trial.īlanton proclaimed his innocence years after being sent to prison. “Tom Blanton saw change and didn’t like it,” Jones, now a Democratic U.S. The targeted church was a rallying point for protesters. Attorney Doug Jones, appointed as a special state prosecutor, said Blanton acted in response to months of civil rights demonstrations. “We were getting ready to be there to oppose it,” said Rudolph's husband, George Rudolph.ĭuring the trial, then-U.S. Glass fragments remained in her chest, left eye and abdomen for decades after the explosion.Ī parole hearing was scheduled next year for Blanton. The bodies of Denise McNair, 11, and Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, all 14, were found in the downstairs lounge.Ĭollins’ sister, Sarah Collins Rudolph, survived the blast but lost her right eye. 15, 1963, a bomb ripped through an exterior wall of the brick church, killing four girls who were inside preparing for a youth program. Cherry was convicted in 2002 and died in prison in 2004. Kay Ivey's office said Blanton died of natural causes.
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