"Negroes and whites will not segregate together as long as I am Commissioner."
If the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960's had a defining conflict, it was epitomized by the clash of two strong personalities, each convinced that he was in the right of things and the other man represented the forces of darkness.
These two men, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Eugene "Bull" Connor, met in person in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, in protest marches that resulted in some of the most indelible images of the 1960s. Who can forget the fire hoses and police dogs, the bark being stripped from trees from the water pressure of the hoses? With his actions taken against the Freedom Riders and integrationists, Bull Connor became a international symbol for hard-line segregation and a synonym for prejudice and hated.
Despite a thirty-year career in Alabama public office in which he did a great deal of good for the state and the city of Birmingham, Bull Connor is forever etched in our minds as the caricature of a Southern redneck, fire hose in one hand and police dog leash in the other.
Read Full Article »
