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Montgomery Bus Boycott Research Paper

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The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a crucial stepping stone for African-Americans to get the equal rights they demanded. This boycott happened in Montgomery, Alabama from December 5th, 1955 all the way until December 20th, 1956. To many it known as the first large demonstration against segregation in the U.S. Just four days before the start of the boycott a very important woman named Rosa Parks, did not agree to give up her seat on the bus to a white man on one of the Montgomery buses. The rules during this time frame were as follows: African-Americans were to sit in the back half of the bus so whites could sit in the front half, but if the whites ran out of their seats in the front they would take the Africa-Americans’ seats in the back half. The driver of …show more content…

One of the main leaders of this boycott happened to be Martin Luther King Jr. which is widely known for his vital role in the American civil rights movement. Dr. King Jr., Rosa Parks, and roughly 40,000 African-Americans went on strike and did not ride the bus at all until the city agreed to adjust the bus policies. The seating arrangement was just one of the few demands. Some of the other demands included hiring black drivers for the bus and a “first-come, first-seated policy, with whites entering and filling seats from the front and African-Americans from the rear” (“Montgomery Bus Boycott”, history.com). This boycott did affect the funding of the buses, as seen in the article featured on Stanford, “African Americans represented at least 75 percent of Montgomery’s bus ridership”. The city of Montgomery said no at first which led to the Black leaders created carpooling options with Taxi drivers that only costed 10 cents, which at the time was the same charge the bus charged African-Americans. Even with the genius taxi idea, many of the people still chose to walk to their

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