Virgil Lamar Ware


Virgil Lamar Ware was an African American eight grader gunned down after the Birmingham church bombing.

Personal life

Growing up in Pratt City, Alabama, Ware was the third of six brothers. He was an eight grade A student, on the football team, and had aspirations to become a lawyer. He had a job as a paper boy with his brother James when the shooting occurred.

Death and Afterward

The murderers Larry Joe Sims and Michael Lee Farley, age 16, were returning from a segregationist rally. Upon seeing Virgil and his brother James, who were unaware of the bombing, Farley told Michael to shoot at them to scare them. It ended in Virgil being shot in the cheek and chest.
An all white jury convicted them of second-degree manslaughter, sentenced to seven months of jail, and had their cases suspended by the judge and changed to two years probation.
Ware was buried in an unmarked grave on the side of the road until May 6, 2004 where he was moved to a burial place with a bronze marker thanks to the donations of the community.
As of 2013 he has been inducted into Birmingham’s Gallery of Distinguished Citizens.
His family has become greatly involved in the civil rights movement as a result of his death.