See Bull Connor's Water Cannons Statue at Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham, Alabama

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'Bull' Connor (1897-1973) was an ardent segregationist who served for 22 years as commissioner of public safety in Birmingham (AL). Connor used his administrative authority over the police and fire departments to ensure that Birmingham remained, as Martin Luther King Jr described it, “the most segregated city in America”. In 1963 the violent response of Connor and his police force to demonstrations during the Birmingham Campaign propelled the civil rights movement into the national spotlight. During the first days of the 1963 campaign, Connor avoided violent confrontations between police and protesters. Adopting a strategy that had successfully thwarted demonstrations in Albany (GA), Birmingham police jailed wave after wave of protesters without abuse. On May 2,1963, when campaign leaders called on young students to sustain the protest, police arrested more than 900 “Children’s Crusade” participants. On May 3rd, however, Connor ordered firemen to use their hoses on protesters and onlookers, and as the demonstrators fled from the force of the hoses, Connor directed officers to pursue them with dogs. During the following days, television reports and newspapers across the country showed images of police and firemen using hoses, dogs, and batons to force demonstrators from downtown Birmingham. National outrage forced the John F. Kennedy’s administration to send a negotiator, Burke Marshall, to Birmingham. The Birmingham Campaign ended on May 10th when an agreement was reached between black leaders and representatives of Birmingham’s business community that moved the city toward desegregation. On May 23, 1963, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered Connor and the other city commissioners to vacate their offices. Within a year, Connor won election to the Alabama Public Service Commission, where he served as president until 1972. Source: The King Institute

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