16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

16th Street Baptist Church wins national historic stewardship award 

The 16th Street Baptist Church received national recognition on Monday for its historic site stewardship from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This comes after years of church staff and community members working hard to restore and preserve the structure as it looked in 1963. 

Birmingham residents reflect on 60th anniversary of church bombing

We spoke with several residents on Friday, asking for their reflections on the 60th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Jackson says we must own hardest chapters of US history during 1963 church bombing remembrance

Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court, spoke at the 60th anniversary of the Sept. 15, 1963 bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church. She said the country should celebrate the great strides that have been made since 1963 but that there is still work to do.

Birmingham marks the 60th anniversary of the 1963 church bombing that killed four Black girls

On the morning of Sept. 15, 1963, dynamite planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded at the church, killing the girls and shocking the nation. The large, prominent church was targeted because it was a center of the African American community and the site of mass meetings during the Civil Rights Movement.

On 60th anniversary of church bombing, victim’s sister, suspect’s daughter urge people to stop hate

Lisa McNair's sister Denise was one of the girls who lost their lives. Tammie Fields’ father was questioned as a possible suspect in the church bombing but never charged. Decades after the bombing, the two women met at a Black History Month event and forged a seemingly unlikely connection and friendship.

Doug Jones Recounts Church Bombing Prosecution in New Book

U.S Senator Doug Jones prosecuted two of the Klansmen who bombed Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. Jones writes about his experience in his new book "Bending Toward Justice."

Birmingham Leaders Want Civil Rights Sites Declared National Park

Leaders in Birmingham, Alabama want President Obama to declare the city's civil rights district a National Historical Park. Many notable events from the civil rights era took place in Birmingham including the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church where four black girls were killed by Ku Klux Klansman

What do we Learn from a Church Bomber’s Denied Parole?

Thomas Blanton will stay in jail. He's the last remaining Klansman convicted for Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which killed four black girls in 1963. Blanton was up for parole Wednesday after serving 15 years of his four life sentences. But the state's parole board did not free Blanton. Alabama Media Group columnist John Archibald reflects on the hearing and also comments on Alabama's likely new Speaker of the Alabama House Mac McCutcheon.

Birmingham Church Bomber Denied Parole

Alabama's parole board has decided against freeing a one-time Ku Klux Klansman convicted in a church bombing that killed four black girls more than 50 years ago.

Parole Hearing for Thomas Blanton, 16th Street Baptist Church Bomber, Set For Wednesday

Blanton has served the minimum of 15 years required in Alabama before parole is possible. Wednesday in Montgomery, the parole board decides whether Blanton goes free or continues to sow life behind the wired fences and steel doors of a state prison.