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Birmingham church bombing wasn’t an isolated act of terrorism – there were dozens of attacks on Black houses of worship during the Civil Rights Movement
Researchers mapped about 145 attacks across the South, showing Black churches were targeted because they anchored civil rights organizing.
- Researchers have mapped about 145 cases of violence against Black churches across the South, ranging from around 1954 to 1970, documenting attacks coinciding with civil rights activism.
- Black churches served as the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement, providing essential leadership, fundraising, safe meeting spaces, and coordination resources that made them targets for white supremacist violence.
- The 1963 bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four girls during Sunday school and injured 22 other churchgoers, exemplifying the violence documented in the research.
- Public outrage following such attacks is credited with driving support for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which President Lyndon Johnson signed into law, transforming national civil rights protections.
- Violence against Black places of worship persists, including a wave of burnings in the 1990s, the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, and a 2025 arson in Memphis.
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26 Articles
Idaho Press+25 Reposted by 25 other sources
Birmingham church bombing wasn’t an isolated act of terrorism – there were dozens of attacks on Black houses of worship during the Civil Rights Movement
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·Cherokee County, United States
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Total News Sources26
Leaning Left5Leaning Right6Center14Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
L 20%
C 56%
R 24%
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