The sole survivor of the attack of an Alabama church from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the 60s, is set to come to Montgomery and discuss the current landscape of civil rights.
Sarah Collins Rudolph was 12 years old on Sept. 15, 1963, when dynamite planted by KKK members exploded just inches from where she and four other young Black girls were congregating in the basement at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.
She was one of the 22 people injured in the blast that killed her sister, 14-year-old Addie Mae, and three other girls. Rudolph, and author and activist, has stated that her “life was spared to tell the story” of the bombing.
Rudolph, often referred to as the “fifth little girl,” will discuss the terrorist attack at Auburn University at Montgomery's (AUM) MLK Reflections Breakfast, set for Friday, March 7 at 8:00 a.m. in Taylor Center 230. She will also talk about how the Birmingham community united in the aftermath of the bombing to fight hate.
The breakfast celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy each year with speakers, representatives and dignitaries, and students represented from across the state—as a place to listen, learn and build understanding. Dr. King called the b1963 bombing "one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity."
Rudolph still carries physical and emotional scars from the church bombing. She lost vision in one of her eyes due to the blast and eventually had to get a glass eye.
Three of the victims lost in the blast were eulogized by Dr. King, at their funeral. While the bombing served as a catalyst for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, justice was not fully served for nearly 40 more years.
From 1977 to 2002, KKK members Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash and Robert Edward Chambliss, were convicted for their roles in the bombings.
The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Attendees are asked to register in advance.
