But other people were hurt in the bombing, including Addie Collins’ sister, who we thought was blinded but is now blind in one eye. On the day of the bombing, in our neighborhood, we gathered outside and learned that dynamite had been placed under the church steps, resulting in the killing of the four girls. “My family attended the rallies, and, when we were there, hope seemed like it could be forthcoming if we just protested. John Cross, had joined the Southern priest and leadership movement (the Southern Christian Leadership Conference), and the church became a meeting place for organizing the protests, rallies and marches,” Billingsley said. “The 16th Street Baptist Church had been the meeting place for the movement, and the pastor at the time, the Rev. The four murdered girls - 14-year-old Addie Mae Collins, 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair, 14-year-old Carole Rosamond Robertson and 14-year-old Cynthia Dionne Wesley - were changing into robes in the basement of the church, which had served as a hub for the civil rights leaders. The homes of several civil rights leaders were bombed or firebombed, so it was instantly known that it was happening again, but this time it was a big explosion, and it was extremely terrifying.” Bombings had occurred for many months in several prominent black sections.
Birmingham at that time was the most segregated and the most racist city in the country. At about 10:20 a.m., a loud explosion was heard for miles, and, at that time, our family lived in Birmingham’s Smithfield section, which was quite a distance from the 16th Street Baptist Church. “I was 13 years old when the bombing happened on Sunday, Sept. “It was disturbing because the fight for civil rights remained so real,” Billingsley said Sept. In commemoration of the anniversary, Billingsley took Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren and Councilwoman Adrienne Wooten back to that horrible time of civil rights strife through her vivid recollections during a phone call. Hilton Head, S.C., resident Jan Billingsley, who was a contemporary of the murdered girls, married her husband in1976 at the 16th Street Baptist Church, which was just across the street from her family’s restaurant. and Frederick Lee Shuttlesworth for civil rights organizing activities. Prior to the bombing, the church had been used by Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy Sr. That morning, a bomb exploded in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. 15, Orange recognized the 58th anniversary of the 1963 terrorist attack that killed four innocent young girls attending church.
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