Bull Connor

Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (11 July 1897 – 10 March 1973) was a police official in the Southern U.S. state of Alabama during the American Civil Rights Movement and a staunch advocate of racial segregation. He was a Democrat, a delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/D/1948/AL.html, and a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Related Topics:
11 July - 1897 - 10 March - 1973 - Police - Southern U.S. - Alabama - American Civil Rights Movement - Racial segregation

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Connor was born in Selma, Alabama.

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As the Public Safety Commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960s, he became infamous for using fire hoses and police attack dogs against unarmed, nonviolent protest marchers. The spectacle of this being broadcast on national television helped to catalyse major social and legal change in the South and helped in large measure to assure the passage by Congress of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; so ironically Connor's tactics helped to bring about the very change that he was opposing.

Related Topics:
Birmingham, Alabama - 1960s - Fire hose - Dog - Television - Congress - Voting Rights Act of 1965 - Ironically

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In 1963, civil rights leaders staged "Project Confrontation" in Birmingham against the police tactics used by Connor and his subordinates (and, by extension, other Southern police officials). The goal of this movement was to cause mass arrests and subsequent inability of the judicial and penal systems to deal with this volume of activity. The short-term effect only increased the level of violence used by Connor's officers, but in the long term the project proved largely successful, as noted above.

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On February 16, 1968, Connor, now Alabama Public Service Commission director, was present at the police station in Haleyville, AL for the first-ever use of 9-1-1 as an emergency telephone number in the United States.

Related Topics:
February 16 - 1968 - Haleyville, AL - 9-1-1 - United States

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