Last surviving 16th Street Baptist Church bomber dies in prison

Thomas Edwin Blanton, Jr., the last surviving 16th Street Baptist Church bomber, has died in prison.

Governor Kay Ivey made the announcement in a statement on Friday, saying Blanton “passed away from natural causes” while serving his life sentence.

Blanton, convicted of murder in 2001, was one of two Ku Klux Klan members successfully prosecuted for the 1963 Birmingham bombing by U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) during his service as U.S. Attorney.

Since he was convicted under an old law when life without parole was not an option, Blanton became eligible for parole in 2016. His request for parole was denied that year, and he would have been eligible for a new hearing next year.

Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair were killed in the bombing. They were each posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2013.

Ivey said, “[Blanton’s] role in the hateful act on September 15, 1963 stole the lives of four innocent girls and injured many others. That was a dark day that will never be forgotten in both Alabama’s history and that of our nation. Although his passing will never fully take away the pain or restore the loss of life, I pray on behalf of the loved ones of all involved that our entire state can continue taking steps forward to create a better Alabama for future generations.”

“Let us never forget that Sunday morning in September of 1963 and the four young ladies whose lives ended far too soon, but let us continue taking steps forward to heal, do better and honor those who sacrificed everything for Alabama and our nation to be a home of opportunity for all,” the governor concluded.

The two other convicted, white supremacist bombers, Robert Chambliss and Bobby Frank Cherry, both previously died in prison. Chambliss was convicted in 1977 by then-Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley. Cherry was convicted in 2002.

UPDATE 12:48 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) reacted to Blanton’s death via a Facebook post.

“Today the last surviving murderer in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing died in prison,” Sewell said. “Sadly, his legacy of racial violence and terrorism lives on in this country. The past may be painful but we must use it to recommit to working toward a better future.”

UPDATE 1:34 p.m.

Senator Jones reacted to Blanton’s death in a statement to Yellowhammer News.

“Tommy Blanton is responsible for one of the darkest days in Alabama’s history, and he will go to his resting place without ever having atoned for his actions or apologizing to the countless people he hurt,” Jones said. “The fact that after the bombing, he went on to remain a free man for nearly four decades speaks to a broader systemic failure to hold him and his accomplices accountable. That he died at this moment, when the country is trying to reconcile the multi-generational failure to end systemic racism, seems fitting.”

“However, what the families of those girls, and the entire community of Birmingham, do know today is that when we come together and demand justice, we can achieve it. At this moment in our nation when we have all come to realize that the journey to racial justice has taken far too long, we must come together. Tommy Blanton may be gone, but we still have work to do,” he concluded.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn