“Bombingham” refers to a period of racially motivated bombings that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, between 1947 and 1965. The city earned this nickname because more than 50 dynamite explosions took place during this time. These attacks primarily targeted African American residents who attempted to move into white neighborhoods or who participated in civil rights activities. Many of the bombings were carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
During the 1940s, particularly after World War II, Black families began attempting to purchase homes in Birmingham’s segregated white neighborhoods. In response, the Ku Klux Klan launched a terror campaign aimed at driving those families away from the west side of Center Street which was the unofficial dividing line between Black and white neighborhoods. Their tactics included gunfire, bombings, and arson. This led to the area being nicknamed “Dynamite Hill.”
Between 1949 and 1950, Reverend Milton Curry was targeted in three separate bombings at his home. The first attack occurred on July 28, 1949, at his residence on 1100 Center Street North, but the bomb failed to detonate because the fuse burned out. Two months later, a second bomb exploded at his home, shattering windows. A third bomb exploded on April 22, 1950, and nearly destroyed the entire house, though no one was injured.
A few months later, on December 21, 1950, the home of Monroe and Mary Means Monk at 950 North Center Street was destroyed by a bomb. The attack was in retaliation for the couple’s challenge to Birmingham’s discriminatory zoning laws.
On December 24, 1956, the home of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a leading Alabama civil rights activist and pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, was also bombed. The attack was in response to his involvement in civil rights efforts, including the Birmingham and Montgomery bus boycotts. In the following years, other bombings targeted Black churches such as Bethel Baptist Church.
In 1963, several major bombings occurred during the Birmingham Campaign. On May 11, 1963, a bomb damaged the Gaston Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were staying. That same day, the home of King’s brother, Alfred Daniel King, was also bombed.
On August 20, 1963, the home of civil rights attorney Arthur Shores was bombed. Just over two weeks later, on September 4, his home was bombed again, though he was unharmed. These attacks were acts of retaliation against Black families registering their children to attend formerly all-white schools in Birmingham.
Eleven days later, on September 15, 1963, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, which had served as a central meeting place for civil rights demonstrations. The blast killed four young Black girls: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair.
Bombings in Birmingham continued into the mid-1960s. Most of the attacks remained unsolved for years. However, several individuals, including Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss, and Herman Cash, were eventually convicted or implicated in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
