Photo Credit: Frank Couch/AL.COM /Landov
The lone survivor of a 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls is seeking millions of dollars in compensation and says she will not accept a top congressional award to honor the victims. Sarah Collins Rudolph tells the Associated Press she feels forgotten 50 years after the blast at Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Rudolph lost an eye in the explosion, was hospitalized for months and continues to have medical expenses 50 years later.
Click here to listen to an NPR story in which Rudolph tell WBHM’s Tanya Ott about her injuries and lingering medical problems.
Congress is considering whether to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the four girls who died in the bomb blast: 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Denise McNair and Cynthia Wesley. Wesley’s brother Fate Morris says he’s also not interested in the medal, Congress’ highest honor.