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How Did The Montgomery Boycotts Affect The Civil Rights Movement

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During the American Civil Rights Movement, many peoples in myriad places fought for desegregation and equal rights. To achieve this, many methods of protest were used. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., believed in the sole use of nonviolence in his movements. These included actions such as sit-ins, marches, and boycotts, or a protest “by reason of [one’s] political, religious or other conscientiously held beliefs or by reason of their ethnic origin, sex, colour or language, provided that they had not used or advocated violence.” As most people do not consider student protest to be violent, these protests were considered to be much less offensive or aggressive toward white people than other …show more content…

In 1955 and 1956, the majority of the black population of Montgomery, Alabama boycotted the public bus system in retaliation to the arrest of Rosa Parks, who had refused to give up her seat when asked. The boycotts were done with intent to change the laws of the segregation of public transportation. After a bit less than a year, the boycotts yielded results. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court decided the segregation was unconstitutional. This meant that the Montgomery Bus Boycotts changed a set of laws using solely nonviolent methods, and is widely considered to be one of the only movements to have done so. The legislative success, though, infuriated many white people who benefited from segregation, who soon responded with violence. Many buses and people using the buses were individually assaulted by radical segregationists. According to Dr.Martin Luther King Jr., some violent events included the following: “City buses were fired on throughout the city, especially in poorly lighted sections. A teenage girl was beaten by four or five white men as she alighted from a bus. A pregnant Negro woman was shot in the leg.” Among more violent actions were two bombings: one of the home of Dr. King, who had established himself as the figurehead of the movement, and the other of E. D. Nixon, who also had a …show more content…

In 1960, a group of students demanded equality in the fields of education, work, housing, voting, hospitalization, public places, and law enforcement. The students mainly used lunch counter sit-ins, which led to the arrest of many of the students.The students also picketed white establishments which refused to hire black employees above the quota. The students succeeded in their efforts on March 7th, 1961, when a law was passed which officially desegregated Atlantan lunch counters and schools. Other legislation soon followed. It was not the passed laws which created tension among the community, though, but the use of picketing. When student protesters decided to picket white vendors, the vendors were very offended, and began to stop buying from black vendors. This, in turn, offended some very wealthy black entrepreneurs who had built their own businesses only to see them ripped down. There was also tension created among the protesters themselves, as some students decided to meet unconventionally with the merchants to try to seal the cracks in the black community. The student protests in Atlanta, Georgia were very influential toward the law, and tore down much of the institutionalized desegregation, but simultaneously made many people very

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