Eugene “Bull” Connor was born on July 11, 1897, in Selma, Alabama(Eugene "Bull" Connor Biography). Alabama at this time was a Confederate state that was still having a hard time accepting the end of the American Civil War and the freedom of slaves. Terrorist groups like the KKK were a heavy influence on the state and Jim Crow laws were implemented throughout. Lynching was also very common which was used to keep African Americans “in their place” and people who committed these crimes were let go with no repercussions. With all this happening in Alabama Connor only spend his first eight years in the state (Trueman). Eugene’s mother had died during his early childhood and it is reported that he spent some time with other family members but mainly his father Hugh, who was a …show more content…
Here he became a sports broadcaster and gained a lot of local popularity and with this popularity he decided to use it to get himself into politics (Trueman). Connor was elected to the Alabama legislature and three years late became Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham. Connor gained a reputation of being very outspoken particularly on segregation and this garnered him even more support especially in a city where segregation was greatly enforced. In 1963 Martin Luther King had organized a civil rights march in Birmingham which had a great deal of racial tension. Connor felt King was challenging his authority and many of the people that demonstrated and participated in the march were faced with high pressure hoses and police dogs. The images of this event were shown all across the nation and even the entire world showing peaceful people fighting for their rights and were met with an unjust brutality by the police This only helped the Civil Rights Movement because it brought shame on Birmingham. The strange thing about this is the black community of Birmingham was afraid to participate because they would be the ones