Bull Conner

ACTIVITY 6 INSTRUCTIONS:
Read the article about Conner below.  Then examine the PBS interactive freedom rides timeline.  On a piece of paper, respond to the following questions:
  1. What did the Freedom Rides stand for?
  2. Why was he against them?
  3. Consider the resistance the riders faced, would you have participated?

Click Here to return to the People of the Movement Page.
"A staunch and sometimes flamboyant white supremacist, Connor was known for making outrageous comments to the press and for instigating now-famous confrontations over Birmingham's segregation ordinances with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and U.S. Senator Glen Taylor. While apparently not a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Connor protected Klansmen who committed racial violence, including bombings. In 1961, he ordered Birmingham police to stay away from the Trailways bus station while Klansmen attacked the Freedom Riders, a group of civil rights activists who were touring the South to protest segregation. This attack, combined with his closing of city parks to prevent desegregation, the threatened closing of city schools, and Birmingham's worsening reputation in the national media, turned the local business community and a majority of the white electorate against Connor. In 1962, the citizens voted to change the form of city government, in part to remove him from office.

Along with Birmingham's two other city commissioners, Connor filed a legal challenge to the change in city government and remained in office until May 1963. During this time, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in cooperation with local civil rights leaders, led demonstrations in Birmingham against racial segregation. Connor ordered Birmingham police officers and firemen to use dogs and high-pressure water hoses against demonstrators. Images of the resulting mayhem appeared on television and in newspapers throughout the country and helped to shift public opinion in favor of national civil-rights legislation. Images of the demonstrations are still regularly broadcast and published and have helped cement Connor and Birmingham as symbols of racial intolerance."

To read the whole article, Click Here.