Robert Edward Chambliss, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, was convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
The bombing, which occurred on September 15, 1963, killed four young Black girls: Addie Mae Collins (14), Denise McNair (11), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14) — a tragedy that shocked the nation and became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.
Chambliss’s conviction came 14 years after the bombing, marking a major, though delayed, step toward accountability for racially motivated violence.
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