1958 ⟶ Bombing Attempt at Temple Beth-El
On 28 April 1958, Birmingham, Alabama, 54 sticks of dynamite...
Year
1958
1968
💥 Bombing Attempt at Temple Beth-El
On 28 April 1958, Birmingham, Alabama, 54 sticks of Dynamite were placed outside Temple Beth-El in a bombing attempt. According to police reports, the burning fuses were doused by heavy rainfall, preventing the Dynamite from exploding. Although the crime was never solved, police considered Bobby Frank Cherry, later convicted of bombing the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, to be a suspect.⟶
Temple Beth-ElBombing attemptBirminghamAlabamaCivil Rights MovementAnti-SemitismWhite SupremacyUnsolved crime
United States🧨 Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple Bombing
The Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple bombing occurred on 12 October 1958. The Temple, on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, housed a Reform Jewish congregation. The building was damaged extensively by the dynamite-fueled explosion, although no one was injured. Five suspects were arrested almost immediately after the bombing. One of them, George Bright, was tried twice. His first trial ended with a hung jury and his second with an acquittal. As a result of Bright's acquittal the other suspects were not tried, and no one was ever convicted of the bombing.⟶
Hebrew Benevolent CongregationTemple bombingAtlantaGeorgiaAnti-SemitismCivil Rights MovementUnsolved crimeDynamite
United States💣 Ku Klux Klan Bombing of Beth Israel Synagogue
During the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, the leadership of Beth Israel spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan's attacks on black churches. In response, Thomas Tarrants of Mobile, Alabama, who had helped bomb the synagogue building of a different synagogue, Beth Israel Congregation, and its rabbi's house there (see previous entry in this timeline) bombed Beth Israel's education building on 28 May 1968. The force of the blast knocked down several walls of the education building and caved in part of the roof while also destroying a door at the opposite end of the synagogue building. A hole approximately 24 inches (61 cm) in diameter was left in the concrete floor, and damages were estimated to be around $50,000 (equivalent to $452,000 today). According to Sammy Feltenstein, past president of Congregation Beth Israel, pieces of stained glass that survived the bombing were salvaged and adorn the front window of the synagogue today. Later that year, on 30 June, Tarrants returned to Meridian to bomb the home of Meyer Davidson, an outspoken leader of the Jewish community, on 29th Avenue. But the FBI and police chief Roy Gunn convinced Raymond and Alton Wayne Roberts, local Klan members, to gather information about the Klan's operations, and leaders of the Jewish communities in Jackson and in Meridian had raised money to pay the two informants, who tipped off the FBI about the attack before it happened.⟶
Ku Klux KlanBombingSynagogueCivil Rights MovementUnited States1960sWhite SupremacyAntisemitismHate Crime
United States