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Alabama sidesteps compensation for survivor of '63 KKK blast

Alabama Public Radio | By Caroline Vincent
Published September 15, 2022 at 5:14 PM CDT
FILE - Firemen and ambulance attendants remove a covered body from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where an explosion ripped the structure during services, killing four black girls, on Sept. 15, 1963. Sarah Collins Rudolph lost an eye and has pieces of glass inside her body from a Ku Klux Klan bombing that killed her sister and three other Black girls inside an Alabama church 59 years ago. (AP Photo, File)
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FILE - Firemen and ambulance attendants remove a covered body from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where an explosion ripped the structure during services, killing four black girls, on Sept. 15, 1963. Sarah Collins Rudolph lost an eye and has pieces of glass inside her body from a Ku Klux Klan bombing that killed her sister and three other Black girls inside an Alabama church 59 years ago. (AP Photo, File)

Alabama has yet to compensate a victim of the 16th St. Baptist Church bombing that occurred 59 years ago.

Sarah Collins Rudolph lost an eye and her sister when the Ku Klux Klan blew up part of the church during a Sunday service. The blast also killed three other young Black girls.

Gov. Kay Ivey apologized to Rudolph two years ago for the "untold pain and suffering" of the bombing, but did not address financial compensation. Nothing has been done since, and Rudolph still has pieces of glass inside her body from the explosion.

She visited the White House on Thursday for the anniversary of the bombing and participated in a forum on hate-fueled violence.
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Caroline Vincent
Caroline Vincent is a digital producer for Alabama Public Radio.
See stories by Caroline Vincent
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