Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. was born on June 20, 1938, in Washington, D.C., and later lived in Birmingham, Alabama. He was the son of Thomas Edwin “Pops” Blanton Sr., who was widely known in Birmingham for his racist beliefs and activities. Blanton grew up in a segregated and racially charged environment during the 1940s and 1950s.

With only a tenth-grade education, Blanton joined the U.S. Navy in 1956 and served as an aircraft mechanic until 1959. After leaving the Navy, he returned to Birmingham, where he became involved with the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization notorious for its violent opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. By the early 1960s, Birmingham was a central battleground for civil rights activists fighting against racial segregation, and extremist groups like the Klan carried out violent attacks to suppress desegregation efforts.

On the morning of September 15, 1963, Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., along with other members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted and detonated a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church was a key meeting place for civil rights leaders and activists. At approximately 10:22 a.m., the bomb exploded, killing four African American girls—Carole Robertson (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Addie Mae Collins (14), and Denise McNair (11)—and injuring over 20 other people.

The bombing shocked the nation and became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, exposing the depth of racial hatred and violence in the American South. The FBI identified Blanton and three other Klan members as suspects early in the investigation. However, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover blocked federal prosecution, believing a conviction was unlikely in the racially biased legal system of the 1960s.

Decades later, renewed efforts to pursue justice led to the reopening of the case. On May 17, 2000, Blanton was arrested. His trial began in 2001, with prosecutor Doug Jones (later a U.S. Senator) leading the case. Evidence included FBI recordings of Blanton discussing the bombing and testimonies linking him to the plot.

On May 1, 2001, nearly 38 years after the bombing, Blanton was convicted on four counts of murder and sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison. He was incarcerated at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.

In 2016, Blanton went before the parole board but was denied release. He remained in prison until his death on June 26, 2020, at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, just six days after his 82nd birthday. The exact cause of death was not publicly disclosed.