Johnnie Robinson – The Anniston Star Article, “Two Others Killed”

Description

September 16, 1963 article from The Anniston Star reporting on violence in Birmingham during the hours following the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The article states that 16-year-old Johnnie Robinson was fatally shot by police during one of the disturbances and reports an early police account that he had been throwing rocks at passing vehicles and failed to stop when ordered.

The article also reports the killing of 13-year-old Virgil Ware, who was shot while riding a bicycle with his brother, and describes additional arrests and police mobilization during the unrest. The clipping uses the spelling “Johnny Robinson,” a contemporary variant of the name established in official records as Johnnie Brown Robinson. Statements concerning Robinson’s conduct immediately before the shooting should be understood as contemporaneous newspaper reporting rather than independently established findings of the repository.