50th Anniversary of Ala. Church Bombing Observed

Four girls died in Ku Klux Klan attack

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Hundreds of people black and white, many holding hands, filled an Alabama church that was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan 50 years ago Sunday to mark the anniversary of the blast that killed four little girls and became a landmark moment in the civil rights struggle.

The Rev. Arthur Price taught the same Sunday school lesson that members of 16th Street Baptist Church heard the morning of the bombing — "A Love That Forgives." Then, the rusty old church bell was tolled four times as the girls' names were read.

Bombing survivor Sarah Collins Rudolph, who lost her right eye and sister Addie Mae Collins in the blast, stood by as members laid a wreath at the spot where the dynamite device was placed along an outside wall.