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An ardent segregationist who served for 22 years as commissioner of public safety in Birmingham, Alabama, Bull Connor used his administrative authority over the police and fire departments to ensure that Birmingham remained, as Martin Luther King described it, “the most segregated city in America” (King, 50).
Bull Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham, Alabama from 1957 to 1963. A racist who fought to uphold segregation, he used aggressive tactics to intimidate Black protestors working with Dr. King and the movement for racial equality.
Bull Connor was the racist public safety commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama in 1960. Wyatt Walker and Dr. King end up tricking Connor into ordering firemen to spray crowds of black children with water.
Eugene “Bull” Connor plays a minor role in “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” although he will become King’s committed adversary in the weeks after the composition of his letter.
- Significance
- Background
- Early life
- Political career
- Aftermath
- Controversy
- Later life
Theophilus Eugene Bull Connor is most associated with the civil rights demonstrations in Birminghamwhere to many the very public role of Connor and what took place in Birmingham seemed to epitomise the racial problems that existed in the South.
Theophilus Bull Connor was born in Selma, Alabama, on July 11th, 1897. Alabama was a hard-core Confederate state which was still coming to terms with the end of the American Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves. The KKK was strong in the state and the Jim Crow laws were rigidly enforced. Lynching was a common way of keeping the African-Amer...
However, Connor only spent the first eight years of his formative years in Alabama. His mother died when he was eight and his father, a railroad engineer, travelled around America looking for work. Connors father claimed to have worked in 30 different states. Connors schooling barely existed and he did not graduate from high school. However, his fa...
Connor was elected to the Alabama legislature in 1934 and in 1937 he became Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham. He held this position, on-and-off, until 1961. He gained a reputation for being an outspoken segregationist and this gained him a lot of support in a city where segregation was rigidly enforced and where attempts were made to kee...
1963 was a pivotal year for both Connor and Birmingham. Martin Luther King organised a civil rights march in the heartland of a city that was openly segregationist. It could only lead to trouble and trouble duly followed. Connor saw the move by King as being a direct challenge to his authority within the city. Those who demonstrated faced high pre...
There were those in Birminghams city hierarchy who felt that Connor was a throwback to times that had passed and was an unwanted symbol of hard-line Southern racism. In 1963, Connor was ousted from power a decision that was upheld by the states Supreme Court in 1964. A quiet but powerful group of local businessmen had become concerned that the int...
To get back into some form of power within the city, Connor ran for President of the Alabama Public Service Commission. He won his first four-year term in 1964, was re-elected again in 1968 but lost his re-election battle in 1972. He retired from politics in 1972 and died on March 10th, 1973.
CONNOR, Theophilus Eugene ("Bull") ( b. 11 July 1897 in Selma, Alabama; d. 10 March 1973 in Birmingham, Alabama), ardently segregationist commissioner of public safety for Birmingham, Alabama, whose tactics—most notably the use of fire hoses and police dogs against peaceful demonstrators—so shocked the nation that they ultimately aided the ...
Nickname: The Birmingham Bully. Born: July 11, 1897. Died: March 10, 1973. Nationality: American. Hometown: Selma, Alabama. WORK & EDUCATION. Occupation: Commissioner of Public Safety. Education: Less than high school. FAMILY & FRIENDS. Siblings: King Edward Connor. Spouse: Beara Connor.
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