By Annaya Baynes ’19 and Udochi Emeghara ’19
On January 12, 2018, Sarah Collins Rudolph and her husband, George Rudolph, came to the Basking Ridge Campus for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Assembly. Mrs. Rudolph is the only survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, Klu Klux Klan members placed a bomb outside of a window at the 16th Street Baptist Church and it exploded, killing four young African-American girls: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carole Denise McNair. Mrs. Rudolph is the younger sister of Addie Mae Collins; at the time, she was only twelve years old. She suffered a series of burns and was blinded in one eye after the bombing.
During the assembly, Mrs. Rudolph answered a series of questions about subjects ranging from her life immediately after the bombing to how her religion has shaped her. She detailed the events of that day, from her parents rushing her and her sisters, to her and her sister’s reluctance to go to Sunday School, and finally their decision to go to the bathroom to freshen up. As the four girls were getting ready, the bomb went off, shooting debris into the room. The noise was so loud that her future husband, who was across town in another church, could hear the explosion clearly. Mrs. Rudolph immediately started calling for her older sister, Addie Mae, but she did not receive a response. A deacon, Samuel Rutledge, saved her, and she was rushed to the hospital. It was there that she learned of the death of all the girls who had been with her. After the bombing, the perpetrators bragged about their actions and how many children they had killed, while Sarah Collins Rudolph had to go back to school with an eye missing and the death of her sister haunting her. She described her frail emotional state at the time and the incessant panic attacks that plagued her.
As she grew up, she eventually reconnected with her religion; she detailed the role God has had in her life following this traumatic event. She and her husband spoke about the need for forgiveness in this day and age. Mrs. Rudolph spoke about her personal journey to forgiving the bombers despite their indifference and even pride in their actions. She refused to continue being bitter or to allow the event to have a negative impact on her life. Eventually, she married her high school sweetheart, who helped her after the bombing. When asked if she had ever considered leaving Birmingham, she said that she had never thought of leaving.
All in all, Mrs. Rudolph and her husband sent out a loud, clear message to the student body: Forgiveness is key. Her story of loss, faith, and kindness personified the legacy of love in the face of hatred that Dr. Martin Luther King left behind.