Bombingham

Bombingham, the 2001 debut novel by American poet Anthony Grooms, follows Walter Burke, a nineteen-year-old African-American soldier in Vietnam. The suffering he witnesses in combat causes him to relive his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama during the most violent phase of the Civil Rights Movement. Having already achieved acclaim as a poet and essayist, Grooms’s Bombingham was hailed by Publishers Weekly as “a powerful, important debut.”

The novel opens dramatically in Thoybu, Vietnam, where Walter Burke is on patrol with his fellow soldiers Haywood Jackson, who is his close friend, Vester, and “Bright Eyes,” the only white soldier in the group. Walter demonstrates his cold-hearted capacity for killing by shooting a Vietnamese man who is probably a non-combatant.

When the soldiers walk into a Viet Cong ambush, Haywood is killed. Walter has promised to write a letter to Haywood’s parents in the event of his death, so as he takes cover, he begins to rehearse what he will tell them.



Like Haywood, Walter is from Alabama. Walter imagines telling Haywood’s parents about his own childhood, in Birmingham. The bulk of the novel is set in Birmingham and follows eleven-year-old Walter. However, the novel returns intermittently to the present day in Vietnam, where Walter must navigate racial tensions within his unit, and in particular, his relationship with his white comrade, Bright Eyes.

One afternoon, Walter’s father tells him that his mother has a brain tumor, making him swear not to broadcast the news outside the family. Due to her religious beliefs, Mrs. Burke decides not to seek medical treatment. Mr. Burke, who believes in “thinking scientifically,” is furious with her. The couple begins to fight, and Mr. Burke begins to drink heavily, spending more time in local bars than at home.

The Burkes’s family drama plays out against a backdrop of extreme racial tension. More than fifty black homes and churches have been bombed in the city during Walter’s childhood, and no one has ever been arrested. The city’s public safety commissioner, Bull Connor, is a malevolent racist and rumored to be a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.



The black community in Birmingham has begun to fight back, however, using non-violent means. As their family begins to fall apart, Walter and his sister Josie are drawn into the burgeoning protest movement. Walter’s parents try to prevent him from becoming involved in demonstrations; he is a good student and they are worried he will squander his academic opportunities if he ends up in prison. However, their fighting, and Mr. Burke’s gradual descent into alcoholism, drive Walter and Josie into the arms of the movement’s charismatic leaders, including Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Timmons, and James Bevel, who leads workshops for Birmingham’s children, teaching them the methodology of non-violent protest.

Walter and Josie begin to attend these workshops, and Walter’s best friend, Lamar Burrell, the son of two committed activists, encourages them to commit further. Through their involvement in the movement, Walter’s friendship with Lamar deepens. Eventually, Walter confides in Lamar about his mother’s illness.

Several members of Walter’s extended family come to stay with the Burkes: Walter’s aunt, Josie—whom they call “Aunt Bennie”— Grandpa Pic and Uncle Reed. Their arrival brings some stability to the Burke household. Walter’s understanding of the history of racial discrimination is broadened when he learns from Uncle Reed that his own grandfather was falsely accused of raping a white woman and murdered.



Eventually, the three children join protest marches, alongside Dr. King. Bull Connor and Birmingham’s police and fire departments oppose these marches. Violence breaks out. No one in Walter’s immediate family is untouched by these experiences. Walter allows himself to be attacked by police dogs so that his sister can escape. His experiences of police brutality harden him. Josie is arrested after police dogs kill her pet dog. Mr. Burke must humiliate himself in front of Walter in order to secure Josie’s release from prison. When Mrs. Burke dies, the family is in ruins.

The climactic ending of Walter’s childhood narrative takes place a year after these events. Walter and Lamar take their bikes to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the site of yet another bombing, in which four children have died. Before they get there, a gang of white boys, around their age, confronts Walter and Lamar. Lamar is shot in the head and killed.

The novel closes where it began: under fire in Vietnam. Walter imagines telling Haywood’s parents about his and Lamar’s childhood dream of becoming astronauts. He tries to draw a moral from his tale, declaring, “What we learn from suffering, from grief, is what every other person is learning. It’s human compassion.”



Bombingham’s central themes include America’s history of racial segregation, the legacy of violence, and the psychological repercussions of childhood trauma. The novel has been acclaimed for its detailed picture of the Civil Rights Movement, emphasizing the extremity of white violence but also the fractured and ambivalent response of the black community.