In Touch With Sarah Collins Rudolph
By Betty Miller Buttram
FWIS Contributing Writer
On the Sunday morning of September 15, 1963, Sarah Collins and her sister, Addie Mae Collins, were in the Ladies Lounge in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church. The sisters, along with three other girls, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair were preparing for the Youth Service program and then an explosion happened. Four little girls died that day and Sarah Collins was the fifth little girl who survived. When the explosion happened, Sarah was the only one left standing. She was crying out her sister’s name. A deacon in the church ran down to the crater and saw Sarah standing there. He swept her up in his arms, carried her outside, and told people about the other four bodies.
Sarah suffered injuries to both her eyes and had glass embedded throughout her entire body because of the bombing. Sarah has been carrying those injuries and that traumatic time in her life for the past 60 years.
She has been trying for years to seek restitution from Alabama for her injuries caused by the bombing. There was a law firm from Washington, D.C. that worked pro bono on her case for two years, but because the bombing occurred in 1963, nothing came from it.
Buttram: No one knew that there was a 5th girl down there. The media said that there were other injured people and some of us are just hearing about it. Have you brought all of this up in other public appearances?
Sarah: That is what I've been doing for a while since the lawyers couldn’t do anything. I’ve been talking about it now this year more than ever. I just want people to know that they haven’t done me right yet here in Alabama.
Buttram: Will you be speaking about this when you come to Fort Wayne?
Sarah: Yes I will be speaking about it.
Buttram: You attended all three trials of the men who committed this crime. It took so long for these men to come to trial. How did you feel about that?
Sarah: There were four, Robert E. Chambliss, Thomas E. Blanton, Jr., Bobby Frank Cherry, and Herman Frank Cash who died before the trial.
I had to forgive them because I got to the point that I was angry for a long time about what they did to me and those girls, but I couldn’t continue to hold that in. I had to forgive them. I got my life right with God. I got saved.
Buttram: The forgiving freed you to move on?
Sarah: Yes, it helped me because I couldn’t continue to hold on to that because it would show on my face. I would go to places and people would ask me what was wrong with me. But after I had forgiven them, everything became right with me.
Buttram: What do you think about these murders that are happening in churches?
Sarah: I called them devils. They are not saved. They want to kill people. They are the spirit of the Devil. Some people have the spirit of God, and some people have the spirit of the Devil. God says to forgive because they don’t know what they are doing.
Buttram: Will there be any observance in September for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing?
Sarah: They will have a commemoration day on September 15th.
Buttram: Will you be going to Washington, D.C. for the 60th year commemoration on the March on Washington?
Sarah: I won’t be going to Washington. My mama did go to the first one.
Buttram: There were eight children in your family, six girls and two boys; one brother died; but the other brother, Roy, moved to Buffalo, New York. Did any of your family members consider moving out of Alabama after the bombing?
Sarah: We wanted to move but we didn’t. My brother went up there to stay with my auntie. She had a small house and not much room for us. We wanted to move but all our relatives were in Birmingham so there was no reason for us to go anywhere.
Buttram: Has Birmingham changed from then to now.
Sarah: Back then, we were trying to get our civil rights but all that has changed.
Buttram: Do you have any other speaking engagements after your visit to Fort Wayne?
Sarah: I’m going to Montgomery, Alabama, New York, and Memphis, Tennessee. Most of the people want to hear about that day, especially the young people.
Buttram: Do you want the young people to pay attention to what happened back then with our civil rights? Would you suggest to the young people to stay vigilant and be aware?
Sarah: They got to because those girls, I always say, didn’t die in vain and what they see going on now with the civil rights and things, they’ve got to respect that because the Civil Rights bill was passed because what happened here in the city of Birmingham. They got to realize that people were killed during that time to get those freedoms that they have now. It is time for them to wake up and not take things for granted.