Addie Mae Collins

Addie Mae Collins (April 18, 1949 – September 15, 1963), born to Julius and Alice Collins, and has six siblings. She belonged to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where she was fatally wounded during the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, as were Cynthia Wesley, Carol McNair, and Carole Robertson. Her younger sister Sarah was injured in the blast but survived.

Burial

Addie Mae was buried alongside Cynthia and Carole in Greenwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Alabama. Martin Luther King Jr held a eulogy at the joint funeral for three of the four girls. Upwards 8,000 people came to pay their respects.

In January 1998, Addie Mae's grave was to be exhumed to be moved to another cemetery; however, it was discovered that the body there was not hers.[1][2][3] In 2013, her sister told WVUA, "When they exhumed her, they looked in there, and it wasn’t Addie, it was somebody that had dentures and nobody helped with that. If one of their kids got killed, a white kid, they would have tore the whole graveyard down but they didn’t care."[4]

In 2017, Advanced Radar Technologies used underground radar to search the area, and found that Addie Mae's casket was buried several feet behind the headstone, rather than in front of it.[1]

Legacy

A statue of bronze and steel made to memorialize the four girls can be found on the corner of 16th St and 6th Ave across from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.[5] In 2006, the church became a National Historic Landmark. All four girls were awarded Congressional Gold Medals by former President Obama in 2013.[6]

In 1997, Spike Lee produced a film about Addie and the three other girls, named Four Little Girls.[7] Songwriter and activist Joan Baez wrote a song named "Birmingham Sunday" to memorialize the bombing victims.

References
  1. Reporter, Brian Pia, Investigative (2017-05-03). "Missing remains of 1963 church bombing victim believed to be found". WBMA. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  2. Pia, Brian (2016-10-27). "ABC 33/40 News Investigates: Search for Addie Mae Collins". WBMA. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  3. "A Child Lost to Racial Hate Lost Again in Birmingham". Los Angeles Times. 1998-01-19. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  4. ""THE OTHER GIRLS DIED. I SURVIVED." 16TH ST. CHURCH BOMBING SURVIVOR SPEAKS". WVUA23. 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  5. "U.S. awards medals to four girls killed in 1963 civil rights bombing". reuters.com.
  6. "Historic civil rights district in Alabama designated national monument". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  7. Lee, Spike. "Four Little Girls". Library Journal.
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