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Camille Pissarro
Bull Connor was the racist public safety commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama in 1960. Wyatt Walker and Dr. King end up tricking Connor into ordering firemen to spray crowds of black children with water. Connor also sends police dogs after young protestors, leading to a picture that troubles the nation and directs attention to the civil rights movement.
Eugene “Bull” Connor Quotes in David and Goliath
The David and Goliath quotes below are all either spoken by Eugene “Bull” Connor or refer to Eugene “Bull” Connor. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6: Wyatt Walker Quotes
In the traditional fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, told to every Western schoolchild, the Tortoise beats the Hare through sheer persistence and effort. Slow and steady wins the race. That’s an appropriate and powerful lesson—but only in a world where the Tortoise and the Hare are playing by the same rules, and where everyone’s effort is rewarded. In a world that isn’t fair—and no one would have called Birmingham in 1963 fair—the Terrapin has to place his relatives at strategic points along the racecourse. The trickster is not a trickster by nature. He is a trickster by necessity.
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Eugene “Bull” Connor Character Timeline in David and Goliath
The timeline below shows where the character Eugene “Bull” Connor appears in David and Goliath. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: Wyatt Walker
...and the city’s police force, which was following the orders of a racist man named Eugene “Bull” Connor , the public safety commissioner. The picture was taken by a member of the Associated...
(full context)
...to find a way to incite a crisis in Birmingham, wanting to trick the racist Bull Connor into doing something the civil rights movement could use against him. Unlike Dr. King (who’s...
(full context)
...forcing the police to make multiple arrests, thereby packing the jails to capacity and forcing Bull Connor to stop responding with force to the civil rights movement. However, this plan proves more...
(full context)
...when the protestors are about to cross the line separating “black Birmingham” from “white Birmingham”, Bull Connor orders the firemen to turn on their hoses, sending children flying against nearby walls. He...
(full context)
...Birmingham police. The only way for them to do this, Gladwell argues, was by tricking Bull Connor into showing force. Tricksters, Gladwell upholds, aren’t tricksters “by nature,” but “by necessity.”
(full context)
