5 Little Girls And The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

Monday marks the 62nd anniversary of the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, an event that would become one of several turning points in the Civil Rights Movement, exposing the violent backlash to thriving Black communities. As we pause to remember the four little girls killed in the bombing, it’s important to also honor survivor Sarah Collins Rudolph. 

The imagery of four little girls killed in a racist attack on a place of worship has long been a somber point of reflection. But the strength and resilience of those who survived is equally important. 

In a reflection posted on her website, Collins Rudolph painted a picture of a group of girls happy to be together as they gathered in the church’s “Ladies Lounge.” She described walking to church with her sisters Janie and Addie Mae, and later meeting up with Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair. The girls ranged in age from 11 to 14. Collins Rudolph was 12 at the time. 

“I remember we were coming to church. It was three of us. It was my sister Janie, Addie, and myself,’ she recounted. “We walked to church that morning. We were having so much fun. We were throwing around Janie’s little purse. She had a purse shaped like a football. We were throwing it, and we laughed all the way.”

Mere weeks after the March on Washington, racists bombed the Alabama church. If anyone understands the toll of survivorship, it’s her. Collins Rudolph not only lost her big sister that day but was among the nearly two dozen people injured, losing sight in one eye. 

What should have been a happy day for Collins Rudolph has been marred by destruction and death for over six decades. 

The bomb went off as she and the other girls watched as her sister Addie tied a sash on her dress. 

“We all stood there. You know, looking to see her tie it,” she explained. “And she reached her hand out like that. And that’s when the bomb went off… boom! So we didn’t get a chance to see her tie it. And I heard a cry call out: ‘Someone bombed the Sixteenth Street church!’ It was so clear, it seemed as if that person was in there.”

Her story and enduring work is also an example of the power of narrative. Building on a legacy of advocacy and civil rights, Collins Rudolph is a torchbearer of history. 

Listen to Collins Rudolph in her own words below. 

SEE ALSO:

Remembering The Birmingham Church Bombing

16th Street Baptist Church Bomber Denied Parole