Bull Connor
Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (July 11, 1897 – March 10, 1973) was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. His office gave him responsibility for administrative oversight of the Birmingham Fire Department and the Birmingham Police Department, which had their own chiefs.
Through his covert actions to enforce racial segregation and deny civil rights to African American citizens, especially during the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Birmingham Campaign of 1963, Connor became an international symbol of bigotry. Connor infamously directed the use of fire hoses, and police attack dogs against peaceful demonstrators, including children. His aggressive tactics backfired when the spectacle of the brutality being broadcast on national television served as one of the catalysts for major social and legal change in the southern United States and helped in large measure to assure the passage by the United States Congress of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Read more about Bull Connor: Early Career, Civil Rights Era, Freedom Riders and Project C, Later Career, Legacy
Famous quotes containing the words bull and/or connor:
“Not only the bull attacks his enemies with curved horn, but also the sheep, when harmed fights back.”
—Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.)
“Instead of offering the Indians a chance to surrender, and to be taken peaceably, General Connor issued a very cruel order to his men—’Take no prisoners, fight to the death; nits breed lice.’”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)