An Evening with June Collins Peavy and Sarah Collins Randolph, Survivors of the 1963 Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and Sisters of Addie Mae Collins who Was murdered in the Klan bombing.
The SpiritHouse Project located at 1615 Buchanan Street, N.W. invites you to attend an informal gathering this Wednesday, February 15th at 7pm with June Collins Peavy and Sarah Collins Rudolph. They are the sisters of Addie Mae Collins, 14 years old, who was assassinated on Sunday, September 15th, 1963, while attending Sunday school when sixteen sticks of dynamite that the Klan had hidden under a stairway in the church exploded. The Klan bomb murdered not only Addie Mae Collins but also Carole Robertson, 14, Cynthia Wesley, 14, and Denise McNair, 11. 22 adults and children were also injured. Hearing of the blast and deeply troubled, Martin Luther King Jr. sent a telegram to Governor Wallace with the charge," the blood of our children is on your hands."
Junie Collins Peavy and her sister Sara Collins Randolph were in the church at the time of the bombing. Author Diane McWhorter writes in Carry Me To Birmingham of that terrible morning: "Lord, that's Denise," said Deacon F. L. Pippen, owner of The Social Cleaners. Denise McNair was Pippen's young granddaughter. It was only then that Cross realized that the corpses were young girls. Pippen had recognized Denise's no longer shiny patent leather shoes. The clothes had been blown off the girls' bodies.
Samuel Ruteledge looking for his three and a half year old son found a female body buried alive, moaning and bleeding from the head. He told her the church had been bombed and carried her to the hole toward the street. "Do you know who she is?" people asked one another. Again, Cross thought she must be forty or forty-five years old but Sarah Collins was only twelve. Her face was spurting blood, and to a witness across the street, it looked as if the skin had been peeled from her place. After being loaded into an ambulance (colored), she sang, "Jesus Loves Me," and occasionally said, "What happened, I can't see."
Ms. Rudolph continues to slowly recover from the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. She was the only girl who was hurt to survive the blast. However, she lost an eye. In addition to her sister, three of her friends were assassinated in the bombing. In 2002 she received the "Harmony Award" from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) for demonstrating bravery. Ms. Rudolph worked at Lawlers Machinery for fifteen years. She has written her autobiography and is currently seeking a publisher.
Ms. Collins Peavy was at Sunday School when the church was bombed and her sister Addie was murdered. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, she still resides there. Her family was deeply impacted by the assassination of their beloved daughter and sister. Ms. Collins Peavy left her Job in 1986 due to health related concerns that stem from the bombing. Since the conclusion of the trials from the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Ms. Peavy has increasingly engaged in inspirational writing. She envisions herself as an "over-comer". Presently, she attends Christ Episcopal Church in Fairfield, Alabama. Peavy traveled to Washington, D.C. for the premier of Spike Lee's "Four Little Girls" and has appeared on several panels related to the church bombing.
PLEASE PASS THIS ON! Space is Limited. RSVP 202-722-2690 This is an important story I hope you will come to hear it. Ruby Sales, Director and Founder of the SpiritHouse Project
Copyright © 2006
Last Modified: February 12, 2006.
Webspinner: webmaster@crmvet.org
(Labor donated)