16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Essay

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On September 15, 1963 four men bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing and injuring many people. This had a huge impact on the world and what was going on at that time specifically in the United States. So, Richard Farina was inspired to write Birmingham Sunday to remember the horrendous acts that occurred on September 15, 1963. Because of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, Richard Farina wrote “Birmingham Sunday” to reflect the occurrences at the church that day, show the significance of the bombing for the civil rights movement, and to remember the lives of the four girls that died. On a Sunday on September 15, 1963 in Birmingham Alabama four members of the racist group against black equality known as the Ku Klux Klan, (KKK) bombed the 16th Street Baptist church. The four men’s name’s were; Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobb Cherry. These men planted the bomb which consisted of fifteen sticks of dynamite on the right side of the church under an outdoor stairwell. The church was filled with many African Americans coming, like they did every Sunday, to hear the sermon preached. There were four girls in the restroom located in the basement at the time the bomb went off. The bomb detonated at 10:19 a.m. killing the four girls in the basement and injuring …show more content…

The song has many connections of the events that happened on that day. One of the connections is when Farina writes “On Birmingham Sunday the noise shook the ground and people all over the earth turned around”(Farina). This is pointing directly to the bomb that went off that day and that it was such a significant event that people all over the world heard about it. Another quote that points directly to the event is “On Birmingham Sunday the blood ran like wine” Farina) which points to the fact that four girls died that day and 17 more were

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