A Black woman known as the “Fifth Little Girl” who survived the 1963 Birmingham Church is still waiting to be paid by the state.
Back in 1963, a group of racist white people, who were reportedly a part of the Ku Klux Klan, unleashed a domestic terrorist attack upon a historically-Black church called the 16th Street Baptist Church, which is located in Birmingham, Alabama. Twenty-two people were injured and four young girls were killed.
Sarah Collins is one of the girls who survived; her sister was one of the victims who was killed. The victims include Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14 and Cynthia Wesley, 14.
While the governor of Alabama Kay Ivey, has apologized to Collins, she’s yet to pay for her pain, suffering and trauma. “If they hadn’t stirred up all that racist hate that was going on at the time, I don’t believe that church would have been bombed,” said Rudolph during an interview with the Associated Press. Collins lost an eye and still has shards of glass in her body as a result of the attack.
Three Klan members were convicted of murder in the bombing but died in prison years later. Another Klan member died and was never charged.
