OH 1392 | Oral History

OH 1392

Law enforcement officer. His experiences while serving with the Birmingham, Alabama, Police Department during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. His youth in a rural segregated community in Alabama; contacts with African-American servicemen while a member of the SeaBees during World War II; decision to join the Birmingham Police Department, 1946; lack of proper law enforcement training; his promotion to detective; attitudes of policemen toward the African-American community; abuses by the police department toward the African-American community; attitudes of the African-American community toward the Birmingham Police Department; zoning problems, housing, and bombings in the 1950s; attendance at the FBI Academy, Washington, DC, 1956; school desegregation incidents; comments about Birmingham’s Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene (“Bull”) Connor; dealings with the Citizens Council of Alabama and other white supremacist groups; sit-ins and demonstrations; freedom riders; tactics used for crowd control; comments about Alabama Governor George Wallace; bombing of the Gaston Motel, May, 1963; comments about Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders.

About this Oral History

Physical Description 91 pp.
Terms of Use Open
Interviewer(s) Stanley Pitts
Date of Interview October 30, 2000 to October 31, 2000