Bobby Frank Cherry

Case overview

Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted in 2002 for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, which killed four African-American girls. Bobby Frank Cherry was born June 20, 1930 in Mineral Springs, Alabama, and died on November 18, 2004 at Kilby Correctional Facility, Montgomery.

Cherry was a former truck driver and a resident of Texas. He was a member of United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group. Cherry publicly denied his involvement in the 1963 crime, while relatives and friends testified that he bragged about being part of the bombing. Cherry’s ex-wife testified, "He said he lit the fuse."

During the trial, prosecutors showed the jury a videotape of a white mob beating local civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. Prosecutors froze the film as a slender white man with a bulbous nose, wavy hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth was seen slamming his fist into the minister's head after pulling what appeared to be a set of brass knuckles from his back pocket. In that depiction, the man was described as unmistakably a young Bobby Frank Cherry.

After the verdict, Circuit Judge James Garrett asked Cherry whether he had anything to say. Cherry replied:

"This whole bunch lied all the way through this thing," "Now, I don't know why I'm going to jail for nothing. I didn't do anything."

Cherry’s trial was postponed after a judge ruled that he was mentally incompetent to assist his attorney. After Cherry was found competent to stand trail, on May 22, 2002 he was found guilty of four counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Timeline

• September 15, 1963 — A bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four girls and injuring twenty people.
• May 1, 2001 — Thomas Blanton Jr. was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of the four girls.
• May 22, 2002 — After being found competent to stand trail, Bobby Frank Cherry was found guilty of four counts of murder.
• 2002 — Bobby Frank Cherry was sentenced to life in prison.
• November 18, 2004 — Bobby Frank Cherry died in prison at Kilby Correctional Facility, Montgomery.

The offence

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing took place at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The attack was intended to instill fear in those supporting equal civil rights without regard to race. Instead, it caused public outrage and spurred the civil-rights movement to further success.

The three-story Sixteenth Street Baptist Church had served as a rallying point for civil-rights activities. It also had served as a headquarters for several desegregation protests, and Martin Luther King Jr. was among the many leaders who spoke at events held there.

On the early Sunday morning of September 15, 1963, United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group, members Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, and Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss planted 19 sticks of dynamite in the basement of the church. At about 10:25 a.m., as 26 children were walking into the basement assembly room for closing prayers after a sermon entitled "The Love That Forgives," the bombs exploded.

Four girls were killed in the blast and twenty-two more people were injured. The explosion blew a hole in the church's rear wall, destroyed the back steps, and left intact only the frames of all but one stained-glass window. The lone window that survived the concussion depicted Jesus Christ leading young children, although Christ's face was destroyed.

Five cars behind the church were damaged, with two completely destroyed. Windows in the laundry across the street were blown out.

Victims

Denise McNair:

• Denise McNair was born November 17, 1951.
• She was the first child of photo shop owner Chris and schoolteacher Maxine McNair.
• Her playmates called her Niecie.
• She attended Center Street Elementary School and had many friends.
• She held tea parties, was a member of the Brownies, and played baseball.
• She helped raise money to support muscular dystrophy by creating plays, dance routines, and poetry readings; these events became an annual event with people gathering in the yard to watch the show in Denise’s carport, the main stage, while children donated their pennies, dimes, and nickels.
• Denise was a schoolmate and friend of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
• Denise McNair died aged 11.

Cynthia Wesley:

• Cynthia Wesley was born April 30, 1949.
• She was the first adopted daughter of Claude and Gertrude Wesley, who were both teachers.
• Her mother made her clothes because of her petite size.
• Cynthia went to school at Ullman High School, which no longer exists.
• She excelled in math, reading, and band.
• She held parties in her backyard for all her friends.
• Upon her death, she was so mutilated that the only way to identify her was by the ring she wore, recognized by her father.
• Cynthia Wesley died aged 14.

Carole Robertson:

• Carole Robertson was born April 24, 1949.
• She was the third child of Alpha and Alvin Robertson.
• Her sister was Dianne and her brother was Alvin.
• Her father was a band master at the local elementary school.
• Her mother was a librarian, avid reader, dancer, and clarinet player.
• Carole enjoyed reading and excelled at school as a straight-A student.
• She was a member of Parker High School marching band and science club.
• She was also a Girl Scout and belonged to Jack and Jill of America.
• When she was at Wilkerson Elementary School she sang in the choir.
• Her legacy helped create the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Chicago, a social service agency that serves children and their families.
• Carole Robertson died aged 14.

Addie Mae Collins:

• Addie Mae Collins was born April 18, 1949.
• She was the daughter of Oscar and Alice.
• Her father was a janitor and her mother a homemaker.
• She was one of seven children.
• She was the peacemaker between the bunch.
• She was an avid softball player.
• A youth center dedicated to Addie and her ideals was created in Alabama.
• Addie Mae Collins died aged 14.

Investigation

The FBI led the initial investigation. A 1965 FBI memorandum to director J. Edgar Hoover determined that Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas E. Blanton Jr. had planted the bomb. Based on the investigation, the Birmingham FBI office recommended prosecuting the suspects. Hoover blocked their prosecution by rejecting the recommendation that the federal prosecutor receive the testimony that identified the suspects. By 1968, charges had not been filed and the FBI closed the case.

In 1971, Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley reopened the case. The case was again reopened in 1988 and in July 1997 after the FBI received a tip. An FBI agent in the Birmingham office recovered more than 9,000 FBI documents and surveillance tapes that had not been shared with prosecutors.

Arrest and prosecution history

Robert Chambliss was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison on November 18, 1977. After the case was reopened several times, Alabama Attorney-General Bill Baxley prosecuted Chambliss, who was convicted for the four murders and sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment. Chambliss died in prison in 1985.

Thomas Blanton Jr. was charged with the murder of the four girls on May 17, 2000. Blanton was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison on May 1, 2001. The jurors who convicted Blanton considered 1964 taped conversations recorded by the FBI that had remained secret until 1997. In one recorded conversation between Blanton and his wife, Blanton told her that he was at the Klan meeting where both the bombing was planned and the bomb was made. In another recorded conversation, Blanton spoke about the bombing to an FBI informant while driving in a car.

Bobby Frank Cherry and Thomas Blanton Jr. were charged with the murder of the four girls on May 17, 2000.

Trial

Mental competence proceedings

Bobby Frank Cherry’s trial was postponed after a judge ruled he was mentally incompetent to assist his attorney. After Cherry was found competent to stand trail, on May 22, 2002 he was found guilty of four counts of murder.

Jury verdict and evidentiary depiction

Cherry publicly denied involvement. Relatives and friends testified that he bragged about being part of the bombing. During the trial, the ex-wife testified, "He said he lit the fuse."

Prosecutors showed the jury a videotape of a white mob beating local civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. A story about the scene described:

"Prosecutors froze the film as a slender white man with a bulbous nose, wavy hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth -- unmistakably a young Bobby Frank Cherry -- was seen slamming his fist into the minister's head after pulling what appeared to be a set of brass knuckles from his back pocket."

After the verdict was read, Cherry continued to maintain his innocence. Circuit Judge James Garrett asked him whether he had anything to say. Cherry said:

Sentencing

After being found guilty on May 22, 2002, Bobby Frank Cherry was sentenced to life in prison.

Outcome

Bobby Frank Cherry died in prison on November 18, 2004 at Kilby Correctional Facility, Montgomery. He had cancer.

Aftermath

The bombing and grief that followed resulted in violence across Birmingham, with two more African-American youths dead by the end of the day. Sixteen-year-old Johnnie Robinson was shot and killed by police after throwing stones at cars with white people inside, and 13-year-old Virgil Ware was killed by two whites riding on a motor scooter.

Three days after the tragedy, former Birmingham police commissioner Bull Connor further inflamed matters by telling a crowd of 2,500 people at a Citizen's Council meeting:

"If you're going to blame anyone for getting those children killed in Birmingham, it's your Supreme Court."

Connor also recalled that in 1954, after the Brown v. Board of Education decision had been reached, he said:

"You're going to have bloodshed, and it's on them (the Court), not us."

He proposed that African-Americans may have set the bomb deliberately to provoke an emotional response, saying:

"I wouldn't say it's above (Dr. Martin Luther) King's crowd."

Other details

Bombing circumstances and character of the suspects

The bombing occurred at the church during the church’s Youth Day. Cherry was described as having been portrayed during trial as a violent racist who thought he could turn back the civil rights movement by bombing the downtown church, an organizing base for civil rights demonstrators determined to integrate the racially divided city. Public schools in Birmingham had been integrated days earlier after a federal court order was issued.

Cherry continued to maintain his innocence after the verdict.

Cherry moved to Texas in the early 1970s, found work as a clerk, a welder and a cab driver, and had been married five times and had 15 children.

Cherry and the three other Klansmen were suspected within days of the bombing and were known for their violent behavior. The case faltered after 1965 when FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover refused to pursue it. Twelve more years passed before Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley completed a seven-year investigation that resulted in the conviction of Chambliss, who was considered the gang leader.

A television drama was made in 2002 based on Cherry's involvement in the bombing called "Sins of the Father."

Funeral and commemorations

Following the bombing, white strangers visited the grieving families to express sorrow. At the funeral of three of the girls, one family preferred a separate, private funeral, and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about life being "as hard as crucible steel." More than 8,000 mourners, including 800 clergymen of both races, attended the service.

A song titled "Birmingham Sunday," composed by Richard Farina and recorded by Joan Baez, chronicled the events and aftermath. Nina Simone composed and sang "Mississippi Goddam" in reaction to the racially-motivated bombings.

A 1997 documentary about the bombing, 4 Little Girls, directed by Spike Lee, was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Documentary."

The song "Alabama' on John Coltrane's Live at Birdland (recorded November 18, 1963) served as an elegy to the bombing.

The song "Ronnie & Neil" on Drive-By Truckers' double album, Southern Rock Opera, referenced the event in the opening line:

"Church blows up in Birmingham/ Four little black girls killed/ For no goddamned good reason."

Christopher Paul Curtis’s novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 mentioned the events of the bombing.

The poem "The Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall was included. "American Guernica" by Adolphus Hailstork was included.

Branch, Taylor (1988). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954 -1963. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-68742-5. Sikora, Frank (April 1991). Until Justice Rolls Down: The Birmingham Church Bombing Case. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0520-3. Cobbs, Elizabeth H.; Smith, Petric J. (April 1994). Long Time Coming: An Insider’s Story of the Birmingham Church Bombing that Rocked the World. Birmingham, AL: Crane Hill. ISBN 1-881548-10-4.