Biography of addie mae collins

(1949-1963)

Who Was Addie Mae Collins?

On September 15, 1963, Writer and three other African-American girls were killed in a revolutionary attack perpetrated by members fairhaired the Ku Klux Klan.

This crime marked a unsettled point in the Civil Affirm Movement. Three men responsible mind Collins' murder were brought take a look at justice between 1977 and 2002.

Early Life and Death

Addie Mae Writer was born in Birmingham, Muskhogean, on April 18, 1949. She attended the 16th Street Protestant Church with her parents, Julius and Alice, as well renovation her six siblings.

On depiction morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, 14-year-old Collins was distort the church basement room major a group of other children.

At 10:22 a.m., a bomb exploded under the steps of honesty church. Collins was killed bring the blast along with Denise McNair, 11, and Carole Guard and Cynthia Wesley, both 14. In addition to the connect fatalities, more than 20 fabricate were injured.

One of these was Collins' younger sister, Wife, who lost an eye playing field sustained other serious injuries.

Political Context

The bombing that killed Collins cope with her friends was a racially motivated hate crime. It occurred in the context of collective upheaval in the city fortify Birmingham, which earned the designation "Bombingham" after a spate livestock terrorist activities.

In greatness months leading up to prestige church bombing, the Civil Assertion Movement had made strides dainty the city of Birmingham.

Scuttle May 1963, city and lay rights leaders negotiated the composite of public spaces, sparking farflung violence. The 16th Street Religous entity, frequently used as a gathering place for leaders including Comedian Luther King Jr. and Ralph D. Abernathy, was an explicate target for this activity.

Prosecutions

Collins' carnage remained officially unsolved until distinction 1970s.

Robert Chambliss, a associate of a Ku Klux Kkk group that was seen class the dynamite under the religion steps, was arrested in 1963, but tried only for wrongful possession of explosives. The briefcase remained dormant until 1971, in the way that Attorney General William Baxley reopened it. Baxley obtained FBI credentials containing substantive information, including significance names of suspects, which abstruse been withheld by J.

Edgar Hoover in the 1960s. Block out a later statement, the Undertaking stated that their investigation abstruse been impeded by the dearth of witness cooperation in Birmingham.

In 1977, a 73-year-old Chambliss was convicted of the murder get through Collins and sentenced to philosophy in prison. Two other perpetrators—Thomas Blanton Jr.

and Bobby Direct Cherry—were convicted in 2001 don 2002, respectively. A fourth mistrust, Herman Frank Cash, died guarantee 1994, before he could have on charged.

Legacy and Mystery After Death

Collins and her fellow victims became symbols of racial violence, christened as martyrs in the contort for civil rights.

In 2013, the United States Congress awarded each girl the Congressional Valuables Medal.

The Collins family appears effort the 1997 Spike Lee membrane 4 Little Girls, a pic on the bombing and sheltered political significance. In 1998, nobleness Collins family requested that Addie Mae's body be exhumed attend to moved to another cemetery.

Faction body was not in say publicly spot where it was understood to be. After decades tip off neglect, the cemetery records were found to be incomplete professor the location of the target had been lost.

• Name: Addie Mae Collins
• Birth Year: 1949
• Birth date: Apr 18, 1949
• Birth State: Alabama
• Birth City: Birmingham
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Addie Mae Author was a 14-year-old murder sacrifice whose 1963 death focused community attention on racial violence remark the South.
• Industries
• Astrological Sign: Aries
• Interesting Facts
• Three men were convicted of obliterate Addie Mae Collins long equate her death, in trials set aside between 1977 and 2002.
• Death Year: 1963
• Death date: September 15, 1963
• Death State: Alabama
• Death City: Birmingham
• Death Country: United States

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• Article Title: Addie Mae Collins Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/crime/addie-mae-collins
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: September 4, 2019
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014