Bus Boycott Essay

Segregation played a major role throughout the lives of the African Americans. They were viewed as unequal, and were set apart from the norms of society. In the South, the African Americans were forced to use water fountains for blacks only. They were refused service at many local restaurants, and forced to give up their seat on the bus to a white individual. African Americans wanted and needed to take action to gain equality. Throughout the years, they tried all they could to obtain equality and enjoy the same freedoms as the white population.

King's speaking ability increasingly improved over time. At the time, No one knew that attribute would propel him to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

At this time, other local activists have been looking for an occasion to start a boycott of the Montgomery buses, where segregation was especially hurting black people. Most of the teachers of Montgomery, called for a one-day protest against the bus line, asking the blacks to stay at home or find another way to get to work or school. This strike hurted the bus system. The success of that one-day protest persuaded Montgomery civil rights leaders to organize a larger scale boycott of the buses.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. The law said that black people had to sit in the back of the bus while the the white people sat in the front. Bus drivers often referred to black people on the bus as nigger, black cow, or black ape. Blacks had to pay in the front of the bus and they had to get off to go threw the side door to sit in the back.

It was still the segregated South. Hotels, movies, water fountains and city busses were segregated. Blacks spent money in downtown stores, but were still refused seats at lunch counters.

Although segregation was practiced, cases were being fought and individuals were not keeping quiet. It was becoming more and more on the forefront.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott began with the public arrest of an African American woman and civil rights activist named Rosa Parks. As stated in Document A,”Rosa Parks boarded a city bus and sat down in the closest seat. It was one of the first rows of the section where blacks were not supposed to sit… The bus driver told Rosa Parks that she would have to give up her seat to a white person. She refused and was arrested.” Rosa’s arrest sparked a number of radical events that fought against racial inequality and segregation over the span of thirteen months. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful because it led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation among public transportation (especially buses) was unconstitutional. The Montgomery

About a hundred years after the Civil War, almost all American lived under the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow Laws actually legalized segregation. These racially enforced rules dominated almost every aspect of life, not to mention directed the punishments for any infraction. The key reason for the Jim Crow Laws was to keep African Americans as close to their former status as slaves as was possible. The following paper will show you the trials and tribulations of African Americans from the beginning through to the 1940’s where segregation was at its peak.

According to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, blacks had the same legal protection as whites. The Supreme Court contradicted this when they allowed so called “restrictions” in the South against blacks. Those who supported Jim Crow generally lived in the South. They believed that whites were above the blacks, in things ranging from intelligence to morality. They thought sexual relations between the two races would ruin the nation, and violence could be used on blacks if needed. So, hospitals, beaches, parks, prisons, public restrooms and even water fountains were separated by color of skin. In certain areas, there weren’t even facilities for colored people (Pilgrim). African Americans also had to treat whites with respect, whereas whites did not have to, and most of the time would not treat the blacks the same. Blacks had to use titles when speaking to whites, they could not eat with the whites, and black men could not offer to shake a white mans hand. Preachers did not help with the problem, but in some situations made it worse. They would preach that God supported segregation, “the whites were the chosen people, and Blacks were servants” (Pilgrim).

As segregation laws became common, African Americans were not treated equal. They faced many hardships such as police brutality, they were denied access to social programs, houses and even jobs.

African Americans faced segregation during the reconstruction. White people were not ready to desegregate the south. The notion of having separate but equal laws seemed to be a great idea for whites in the south. Separate but equal laws were not equal for African Americans. Whites had better facilities, they were clean and they functional. On the other hand, you had the Black facilities that were never taken care of and most of

What do we think about when we think segregation? The first thing we’re most likely to think is schools, parks and stores right? Well it was more than that, segregation affected communities and even libraries and restaurants. Imagine it’s pre-1954, and you’re a black student walking to school. You see the bus pass but it doesn’t even drive as far as you have to walk, the kids get out and go into their heated and stable school while you think to yourself “how come our school isn’t that nice?” This was the whole idea in the

Now this is not to say that no segregation was present, most black people worked as laborers and servants. most white people either lived as common people or had small farms. Some rich factory owners were also present but not abundant. The south was very different in means of lifestyle and sociality. The south believed in slaves and agriculture.

When Rosa was just two years old her parents had split up so she went on with her mother to Pine Lever, Alabama, to live with her grandparents. During her many experiences she had in Pine Level, her grandfather stood in front of their house while the Ku Klux Klan members walked down the street.

In the late eighteen hundreds, the Reconstruction by Congress was overturned by the Supreme Court. Segregation or separation by skin color was made a law which was adopted by private organizations, institutions and businesses (loc.gov). Physical violence and mental harassment was imposed upon those whom were deemed inferior in color. Some citizens accepted the law, as is, without question while others believed it was their supreme right to remain separate without modification. Human activists, that opposed this way of living, pursued an extensive battle to abolish racial inequity and segregation from American life (loc.gov). During the nineteen hundreds, many understood this treatment as an offense to human beings and activists began