Relatives of '63 Birmingham church bombing split over congressional honor, compensation
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sarah Collins Rudolph, the lone survivor of a 1963 church bombing, and Fate Morris, whose sister died in the blast, discuss their desire for compensation from the bombing during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. Rudolph was badly injured in the bombing, which killed sister Addie Mae Collins, and Morris said he is still haunted by memories of digging through the church rubble. The two say they will turn down a proposed Congressional Gold Medal honoring the victims. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) (The Associated Press)
Relatives of four black girls killed when Ku Klux Klan members bombed an Alabama church are split over how to mark the crime 50 years later.
Sisters of two victims said Friday they favor a proposed congressional medal honoring the girls and aren't interested in financial compensation.
Their opinions differ from those of the bombing's lone survivor and the brother of another victim. They told The Associated Press earlier this week they want money and call the medal an unneeded token.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Legislation for the medal was proposed in January by two members of Alabama's congressional delegation.
The girls died when a bomb detonated at Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963.
Juries convicted three Ku Klux Klansmen in the blast years later. Two are dead, and one remains imprisoned.