Montgomery Bus Boycott Essay

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, one of the leaders of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, despite being reprimanded by the driver (Schulke 166). Montgomery, Alabama was known for its terrible treatment of blacks. The buses in particular had been a source of tension between the city and black citizens for many years (Schulke, 167). As a result of refusing to give up her seat, Rosa Parks was arrested. Rosa Parks' popularity among the black community, proved to be the spark that ignited the non-violent Civil Rights Movement (Norrell 2).

supremacist group. The arrests largely brought an end to the busing-related violence. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a very important and vital part in the civil rights movement for many reasons. First, it was the one of the first mass protests on civil rights in the U.S. The Montgomery bus boycott set the stage for other large protests outside the court system to bring fair treatment for African Americans. Second, Martin Luther King came up as a prominent national leader of the civil rights movement while also.keeping true to his commitment to nonviolent protest. Shortly after the boycott' s end, he

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 successful because the protesters used nonviolence, the community helped each other, and the car pool was a major step in outcome. First of all, on March 22, 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. gives a speech and he states, “Democracy gives us this right to protest and that is all we are doing. We can say honestly that we have not advocated violence, have not practiced it, and have gone courageously on with a Christian movement”. This statement exemplifies that the protesters have done nothing wrong and they don’t plan on using violence. To continue, in a letter by Virginia Foster Durr written on January 30, 1956, she writes,“I think it is the first time that a whole Negro community has ever stuck together this way and

The montgomery Bus boycott is a major milestone in civil rights history because it was a civil rights movement international resistance for radical segregation and helped changed the view of disorderly conduct toward African American people in America In document # 6 Malcolm X says “ The Black man should take control of the politics of his own community and control the politicians who are in his own community”. This situation was successful because African American men did start to take control of things like the Civil Rights revolution. Although it wasn’t enough it was still there for

Since the Supreme Court case of Plessy Vs Ferguson way back in 1892, which ruled the separation of blacks and whites constitutional as long as all public facilities provided were “separate but equal,” the United States had been segregated. As with all other public facilities at the time, the busses in Montgomery Alabama were also subject to this segregation, and it wasn’t until 1956 with the beginning of what became to be known as the “Montgomery Bus

In his diary entry, Rustin states that, “42,000 Negroes have not ridden the busses since December 5… the police began to harass, intimidate, and arrest Negro taxi drivers who were helping get these people to work.” Rustin’s diary entry shows the atrocities African American citizens faced before the Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful. In Document D, Virginia Foster Durr, a white woman who supported African American civil rights, states in a letter that, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott is really making history… I think they [the Negro community] are going to win it.” Durr’s letter highlights the faith in African American civil rights, even among white folk during the Montgomery Bus Boycott events. Jo Ann Robinson, president of the Women’s Political Council that was made up of African American professional women, sent a respectful letter to the Mayor of Montgomery in 1954. Document B: Letter from Robinson to the Mayor states that, “We are happy to report that busses have begun stopping at more corners now in some sections where Negroes like than previously.” Robinson’s letter explicitly showcases the successful improvements the Montgomery Bus Boycott was making on

Because African-Americans did not take the bus, taxi drivers offered to pick up African-Americans to take them to their destination. The people in political positions in Montgomery did not like this. So, any taxi driver that was caught transporting African-Americans were arrested. In 1956, Bayard Rustin wrote in his diary about the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He stated that 42,000 African-Americans stopped riding the buses.

Due to that success the Montgomery Improvement Association, led by a young minister named Martin Luther King Jr., planned a permanent boycott until their demands were met. They asked for courteous treatment, seating on a first come, first serve basis, and black bus drivers for mostly black bus routes. Businesses and private homes started to feel the effects of the boycott. Whites started to fight back. Blacks were arrested for walking the streets. Dr. King's home was bombed. The boycott lasted eleven months before there were any positive results. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation on Alabama buses was unconstitutional. The boycott was an astounding success and it brought Dr. Martin Luther King to prominence. 1

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the main leaders in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott was started because Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and got arrested for not getting up. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for 381 days and put many businesses and bus lines under a great burden from the lack of travelers. The bus boycott finally paid off in November of 1956 when the Supreme court ruled that segregated seating on public bus lines was unconstitutional and that African Americans should be able to sit wherever they wish

The Montgomery bus boycott, a seminal event in the Civil Rights Movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. The campaign lasted from December 5, 1955 which was the Monday after Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person to December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional. Many important figures in the Civil Rights Movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. Events leading up to the bus boycott.

December 1, 1955, an African-American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. By refusing to give up her seat, Rosa Parks was arrested. Dr. King held a meeting at his church the next night to discuss ways of dealing with her arrest and protesting her arrest. So, they decided that they would have a bus boycott, beginning on Monday, December the 5th. Her refusal caused what is now known as the Montgomery Boycott. Since the boycott caused a larger quantity of all black patrons, Dr. King realized that although a boycott was needed, many of the patrons were afraid of taking a chance on boycotting because of the effect it may have

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

As said by Rosa Parks,“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right”.This means that when she sat in the front of the bus she was not fearful to get arrested and move because she wanted equal rights.The Civil Rights Movement was a mass popular movement for African Americans equal access to opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship. The African Americans were fighting for equal rights, and they wanted to be treated the same as everyone else. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. A boycott is to stop using a product for example, the African Americans boycotted so they could stop riding the buses.The boycott was in Montgomery, Alabama. African Americans wanted to be equal to the whites because they were treated differently than the whites for everything. They wanted to be treated the way whites were being treated.The boycott took place in Alabama in 1955 and ended 1956.The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a successful protest because there were many ways besides the bus for African Americans to get around, the the bus companies lost money, and the protest were covered by the news.

One of the Champions of the American Civil Rights Movement was Rosa Parks. A native of Tuskegee Alabama, she was said by some to be the mother of the African American Civil Rights Movement. Making a living as a seamstress, she was highly involved in the local efforts of the N.A.A.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) as well as exceedingly active in her church congregation, Rosa Parks would become infamous for simply refusing to be treated differently because of the color of her skin. Aboard the Cleveland Avenue bus coming home from work on the evening of December 1st 1955, an already weary Rosa Parks was instructed by the bus driver to surrender her seat to a Caucasian man who had boarded the bus subsequent to her. When she refused to do so, the police were summoned and she consequentially was arrested. This was her first time to be under arrest, but she conducted herself in a professional and dignified manner despite the extreme injustice she was being served (Johnson 212). Jo Ann Robinson called Rasa Parks a woman of "high morals and a strong character". She was exactly what the N.A.A.C.P. needed for a plaintiff in their proposed civil suit against the bus company (Marcus 260).