USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -As a white supremacist, Bull Connor enforced legal racial segregation and denied civil rights to black citizens, especially during 1963’s Birmingham campaign led by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Detailed explanation-2: -An ardent segregationist who served for 22 years as commissioner of public safety in Birmingham, Alabama, Bull Connor used his administrative authority over the police and fire departments to ensure that Birmingham remained, as Martin Luther King described it, “the most segregated city in America” (King, 50).

Detailed explanation-3: -Led by Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Fred Shuttlesworth and others, the campaign of nonviolent direct action culminated in widely publicized confrontations between young black students and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city’s discrimination laws.

Detailed explanation-4: -Connor began his political career in 1934, winning a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives. In 1936, he was elected Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham serving until 1952 and again from 1956 to 1963.

Detailed explanation-5: -In order to sustain the campaign, SCLC organizer James Bevel proposed using young children in demonstrations. Bevel’s rationale for the Children’s Crusade was that young people represented an untapped source of freedom fighters without the prohibitive responsibilities of older activists.