Wales 'means so much' to Ku Klux Klan bombing survivor who lost an eye, her sister and friends in atrocity

Sarah Collins Rudolph
-Credit: (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)


Watching the diverse group of children singing a welcome in Cardiff Sarah Collins Rudolph could only smile. The journey that has brought her to Wales this week started with the murder of four little girls and injuries that caused her to lose an eye, but she hopes the lessons from that atrocity will help make the world a better place.

On September 15, 1963 the Sunday service at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, was about to start. Five young girls, two of them sisters, were in the basement ladies room in their best dresses, chatting about how they were about to take part in the service for Youth Day.

They never got to do this - just before 11am a bomb exploded under the steps of the church injuring 22 and killing four of the five little girls in the basement - 14 year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and 11-year-old Cynthia Wesley. Addie’s sister Sarah survived, but was struck by shards of glass, lost the vision in her right eye and spent two months in hospital.

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The iconic Wales Window inside 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama
The iconic Wales Window inside 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama -Credit:copyright unknown

The little girls’ brutal deaths at the hands of white supremacist bombers shocked even the deeply divided US society of the time. The horror served as a catalyst for reform and the beginning of the end of racial segregation in the deep south. For the latest analysis of the biggest stories, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

Lying in her hospital bed with bandages across both eyes the 12 year-old Sarah had little idea of these repercussions. And she no idea, until years later, that thousands of miles away, in a country she’d never heard of, the people of Wales were raising money for a memorial gift of a stained glass church window depicting a black Christ.

Today Sarah was among a group from Birmingham Alabama visiting Wales for the first time as part of an agreement to build on the historic friendship between the two places. The visit follows the signing of an International Friendship Pact between the Welsh Government and the City of Birmingham last year, which seeks to promote economic trade and cooperation across shared interests including arts and culture, life sciences, healthcare and education.

Watching the children’s welcome assembly at St Mary the Virgin Church in Wales Primary in Butetown the once little girl who survived the attack was clearly moved: “It means a lot to be here. Being here and seeing everyone is remarkable.

"People from Wales donated something very precious to the church and that window is something.

“Back then there was a lot of racism. That was one of the places Martin Luther King had his Civil Rights Movement and putting that bomb in the church was to stop the movement.”

l-r Lisa McNair and Kimberley McNair Brock, sisters of Denise McNair who lost her life in the white supremacist bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabamain September 1963 -Credit:WalesOnline/Rob Browne
l-r Lisa McNair and Kimberley McNair Brock, sisters of Denise McNair who lost her life in the white supremacist bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabamain September 1963 -Credit:WalesOnline/Rob Browne

On a happy day Sarah, whose injured eye was eventually replaced with a glass one, does not want to dwell on her injuries or the racism. She wants to concentrate on the positive response from Wales and the world.

Looking back she hopes people will remember not only those were lost in the racist attack, but also how communities fought back against hate. Both have important messages to convey, she believes.

After the tragedy, people across Wales donated pocket change through a campaign run by the Western Mail to raise funds for the stained-glass window to replace one destroyed at the Church. On September 17 1963 the Western Mail launched an appeal with a target of £500.

The Western Mail editor at the time, David Cole set a contribution of two shillings and sixpence because he wanted ordinary people rather than wealthy benefactors to be involved. It was a master stroke which saw donations pour in from schoolchildren, pensioners and families as well as unions and churches, among others, with the target smashed and £10,000 raised.

The “Wales Window”, designed by Welsh artist John Petts, was given to the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1965. With its depiction of a black Christ on the crucifix, the window was a symbol to the congregation that people around the world knew of and cared about their suffering and loss.

16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama
The 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, where the atrocity took place, killing four little girls and injuring 22 -Credit:copyright unknown

Sarah was moved to hear how children from St Mary the Virgin Primary were among those who donated for the window six decades ago. Lisa McNair and Kimberley McNair Brock, whose older sister Denise McNair, was also one of the four girls killed, joined Sarah as part of a delegation of friendship to Wales, led by Birmingham Sister Cities.

Although Lisa was born a year after the bombing and Kimberley four years after, they said it had a profound effect on their lives and family. The response from Wales, which they came to understand later, had a healing effect and continues to now, they said.

“It means so much to be here, “ said Lisa, “all my life, once I knew what people here had done, I wanted to come to say thank you.

“It’s that feeling that people all the way across the pond had empathy with us. It was very hard and my parents had to get through it.

“It’s about seeing how the generation today know about it and see it is important to know. If we don’t tell these stories people don’t know and it is not black history, it is everyone’s history.”

Sarah, Kimberley and Lisa all said their parents had dealt with the trauma of losing their daughters by not talking about it. Perhaps it was too painful and maybe it was just how things were then, but the three women want the world and future generations to know and talk about the bombing 61 years on.

“The bond between Birmingham and Wales has been a source of deep meaning and healing for me and so many others who lived through that terrible day in 1963,” said Sarah, “The gift of the Wales Window showed us that people from across the ocean cared about our pain and believed in a future of hope and unity.”

Reverend Arthur Price, the current pastor of the 16th Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama  at the reception for delegates at St Mary The Virgin Primary in Cardiff
Reverend Arthur Price, the current pastor of the 16th Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama at the reception for delegates at St Mary The Virgin Primary in Cardiff -Credit:WalesOnline/Rob Browne

Last year, to mark the 60th anniversary of the bombing, the Welsh Government also dedicated four trees, in memory of the four girls, at Kelly Ingram Park, across the street from the church. As a reciprocal gift, the Mayor of Birmingham presented the City Seal to the Welsh Government.

As part of this week’s visit, the First Minister and the American guests presented the City of Birmingham Seal to pupils at St. Mary The Virgin Church in Wales Primary School, as a gift from the Mayor of Birmingham. As they joined in the celebration the women said they want the world to remember the Birmingham bombing and the response of people like those from Wales in the wake of their sisters’ murders.