The 5th Little Girl: Sole Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

by Tracy Snipe, Sarah Collins Rudolph

Once described by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the most tragic and vicious crimes ever perpetrated against humanity, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Alabama, instantly killed Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosamond Robinson, and Cynthia Dionne Morris Wesley on September 15, 1963. This egregious act of domestic terrorism reverberated worldwide. It also sparked the passage of landmark civil rights legislation and a notable artistic response, signified by the jazz musician John Coltrane s elegiac composition, Alabama. Orchestrated by white supremacists, the blast left twelve-year-old Sarah Collins temporarily blind. For decades, she slipped into anonymity. In this intimate first-hand account, Sarah imparts her views on topics such as the 50th year commemoration, restitution, and racial terrorism. This story also delves into the bond between Sarah and her mother, Mrs. Alice Collins. In the backdrop of a national reckoning and global protests, underscored by the deadly violence at Mother Emanuel in Charleston, SC, and tragedies in Charlottesville, VA, and Pittsburgh, PA, Sarah s unflinching testimony about the 63 Birmingham church bombing is illuminating.

Genres: African American

406 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2020

Reviews

[Guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This important book deserves so much better from the editors and proofreaders of Africa World Press. Misspellings, incorrect names and words, double words, punctuation, and even an incorrect caption under a photo made me angry with how Mrs. Collins Rudolph's narrative was treated. I agree with Co-author Tracy Snipe's decision to use Rudolph's own style of speaking but that does not excuse the sloppy editing. I believe Snipe could have retained Rudolph's voice while structuring the story in a more concise and organized manner as well.
I appreciated the footnotes placed at the end of each chapter instead of at the end of the book. That does make it easier to follow through if one wishes to do more research on a particular passage.
I hope Africa World Press or another publisher will make the necessary technical revisions to this important memoir and reprint it.
Even the subtitle of the book is printed as "Soul Survivor" instead of "Sole Survivor." I anticipated that there might be some explanation for this word choice in the text, but no reference is made to it so it is clearly an error. I was so frustrated with the disregard for Mrs. Collins Rudolph's legacy that I wrote to the publishers.