On September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded in the basement of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church killing four little black girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carole Rosamond Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Carol Denise McNair.  They were killed as they prepared to lead the church's annual Youth Day service.  In the Spike Lee documentary Four Little Girls, the bodies were shown to be badly damaged. 

A fifth girl, Sarah Collins, Addie Mae's sister was in the basement with the other girls and had just turned her head to look at Addie when she heard a loud noise.  She called Addie's name three or four times but did not get an answer. The impact of the explosion shot 27 pieces of glass into Sarah's face causing her to lose her right eye and partially blinding her in her left eye.  

The bomb was planted by four Ku Klux Klan members: Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Edwin Blanton, Herman Frank Cash and Robert Edward Chambliss. Initially only Chambliss was charged.   He was tried on murder charges, acquitted and in 1977 found guilty.  He was sentenced to several life terms.  Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted in 2001 of all four murders and sentenced to life in prison. Thomas Edwin Blanton, Jr. was convicted in 2001 also of all four murders and sentenced to life in prison.  Herman Frank Cash died in 1994 without being charged.  

PICTURES: Top: The four girls killed when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed.  Second Row L: Grave of Addie Mae Collins. Note: Family members sought to have Addie’s coffin moved to a different cemetery, one better maintained than Greenwood Cemetery. When her body was exhumed and the casket opened, it was discovered that her remains were not inside. Both sisters, Sarah Collins Rudolph and Junie Collins (Peavy) Williams said that they do not know what happened to their sister’s body and that they have made efforts to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Addie's body. Second Row R: Grave of Carole Rosamond Robertson. Third Row L: Grave of Cynthia Wesley.  Third Row R: Grave of Denise McNair.

SOURCES:

DVD

Spike Lee. "4 Little Girls.", HBO Home Video, 2001. DVD

Virginia has a history of laws against interracial marriage and miscegenation “race mixing” that date back to colonial times. In 1607, English settlers established Jamestown, Virginia.  In that same year, Dutch mariners traded twenty African’s stolen from a Spanish ship, to the colonists for food.

Settlers established a governing body and on June 30, 1619, the first Virginia Assembly Convened. By 1630, the first reference to blacks appeared in Virginia Law records. On September 17, 1630, the Assembly passed the following legislation: 

"Hugh Davis to be soundly whipped, before an assem­bly of Negroes and others for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and shame of Christians by defiling his body in lying with a Negro, which fault he is to acknowledge next Sabbath day."

In 1640, a white man had sex with a black woman and was ordered to confess his sins in church. The black woman received a more harsh punishment.

"Robert Sweet to do penance in church according to the laws of England, for getting a Negro woman with a child and the woman whipt."

A 1691 Virginia Law (Act XVI), specifically prohibited interbreeding or intermarriage between whites and non-whites. If the law was broken by a white man, he was permanently banished from the area. If a white woman broke the law, she was fined fifteen pounds to be paid to the church wardens. If she did not pay or defaulted on her payments, she was sold to work as a servant for five years. The child born from their union would be ordered to work as a servant until his or her 30^th birthday.

Laws against miscegenation were common in Virginia and other states. By 1940, 31 out of 48 states had laws against race mixing and interracial marriage. Eventually, views changed and 15 states overturned their laws.  See below left box.

By 1967, all miscegenation laws were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court case of  Loving v. Virginia, in reference to Richard and Mildred Loving.  

Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter grew up together in rural Caroline County, Virginia. By the time Richard was 24 and Mildred was 18, they were in love and Mildred was pregnant. In June of 1958, they traveled to Washington, DC. to get married. They could not marry in Virginia. Commonwealth laws did not allow interracial marriages.

When the Lovings returned to Caroline County, the Sherriff received a tip and later that night they were arrested for violating Virginia Code 20-29 which read:

"Punishment for marriage. If any white person intermarry with a colored person, or any colored person intermarry with a white person, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years."

The Lovings pled guilty and were found guilty on January 6, 1959.  They were sentenced to one year in prison, suspended after living outside of the state for 25 years.

After sentencing, the couple returned to Washington, DC where they lived for five years. However, they missed their family and friends and wanted to return to Virginia. In 1964, the Lovings contacted the American Civil Liberties Union and requested that they file a motion to vacate the Circuit Cout's decision. A motion was filed and it was denied. 

The case worked its way through the courts and on April 10, 1967, Loving v. Virginia was argued in front of the Supreme Court.  On June 12, 1967, by a vote of 9-0, Justices struck down the lower court’s decision. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote:

"Under our constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state."

PICTURES: Top: Mildred and Richard Loving.  Borrom R: Grave of Mildred and Richard Loving. Bottom L: St. Stephens Baptist Church, the family church.

SOURCES:

Books

Guild, June Purcell, "The Struggle for Racial Integrity Black Laws of Virginia Reprinted by Afro-American Historical Association of Fauqier County, Virginia." Lovettsville, 1996, Print.

Hall, Kermi, L. and Ely Jr, James, W., "Loving v. Virginia The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions." Second Edition. New York: Oxford, 2009. Print.

Internet

"Arrival of First Africans to Virginia Colony." PBS.org, Web. 30 Nov.  2011.

"Brief History of Marriage Meddling in the United States." Fillerbustercartoons.com, Web. 30 Nov. 2011.