Clarence H. Mullins

[3][4][5] In 1947, Samuel Matthews, a Birmingham resident sued the city after he had built a home inside an area that was zoned for blacks.

[8] In 1949, in response to these rulings, Bull Connor, the public safety director of Birmingham, changed the ordinances mandating segregated housing with new codes that made it a misdemeanor for whites to live in black neighborhoods and backs to live in white neighborhoods.

Mary Means Monk, a black resident who had acquired land in a "white area", applied for a building permit to construct a home.

She was denied one by the building inspector and enlisted Shores, who was joined by Thurgood Marshall, to file suit.

[10] Judge Wayne G. Borah wrote the majority opinion, while the dissent was written by Robert Lee Russell, the younger brother of segregationist U.S.

Senator Richard Russell Jr.[4] Wilkinson appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied certiorari[11] The rulings set off a wave of bombings of black homes, including those of Samuel Matthews and Mary Monk, during a period when the city acquired the nickname of "Bombingham".