60 years later: Pastor’s daughter recalls 16th Street Baptist Church bombing

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church, and Birmingham churches, businesses, arts organizations and nonprofits are ending this commemoration year with a special week of events Sept. 10–16.

The main event, “There IS Balm in Gilead: Healing from the Events of 1963,” focuses on individual and community healing. Pastor Tony Evans, author and founder of “The Urban Alternative,” will be one of the many speakers during the conference. But one bombing survivor said she doesn’t plan to attend the events in Birmingham. 

Barbara Cross — whose father, Rev. John Cross Jr., was the pastor of 16th Street Baptist Church when the bombing occurred between Sunday School and worship on Sept. 15, 1963 — said the trauma of that terrible day had an effect on her and her family. 

Family responds

Her father focused on visiting and consoling the families of the victims. He sometimes blamed himself for the bombing because he allowed civil rights leaders to hold meetings at the church. But if he felt angry, he never showed it, Cross said. 

Her mother, Julia, wasn’t feeling well that day and stayed home. In the aftermath of the bombing, she fielded constant phone calls and had to relocate the family at times due to ongoing threats. Cross said her mother was nervous the rest of her life. Cross’ siblings, some of them too young to remember much about that day, have had their own memories to contend with, she said.

But Cross said she is not bitter about the events of that terrible day 60 years ago. “I’m good,” she told The Alabama Baptist in a recent conversation.

“I realized that we can’t control what happens. I realized that anger only makes you bitter. I was sorry for the families that lost their loved ones but some things happen for a reason,” she said. “I don’t try to figure out why. … Sometimes things happen for a reason that we don’t have a clue or why. All that we have to do is accept and move on.”

Read more about Barbara Cross’ memories of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and the 60th anniversary below.