The Montgomery Bus Boycott And The Civil Rights Movement

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.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a year-long protest, in which African-Americans refused to ride the segregated public buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Lasting approximately 381-days, the Montgomery Bus Boycott started on December 5, 1955, and ended on December 20, 1955 (Montgomery Bus Boycott, 2010). During this time period, Jim Crow laws had just become prohibited. However, Jim Crow laws were the way of life in the South, so even though they were prohibited they were still in full action and strength. Jim Crow laws were laws that enforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in 1954 (Urofsky, 2015). Racial segregation is the separation of groups of people by race (e.g. using separate drinking fountains) (Montgomery Bus Boycott, 2016). The Montgomery Bus Boycott was ignited four days prior, on December 1, 1955, by a courageous African-American woman, Rosa Parks, which refused to give up her seat to a white man (Montgomery Bus Boycott, 2010). This event marked the beginning of a huge turning point for the American Civil Rights Movement.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56 was triggered when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1st, 1955. The event saw that around 95% of Montgomery’s black citizens refused to ride the bus, lasting 381 days. This was an extremely important event as this is identified as the beginning of the American Black Civil Rights movement. I will be discussing the causes of this event - the Jim Crow laws, Rosas refusal to move, and the support of the NAACP - as well as the consequences; the suffering of Rosa and Raymond and their supporters, Negro economic power and Martin Luther King Jr. emerging as a civil rights leader.

Because of what happened to Rosa Parks, African American leaders organized a boycott. And they decided where the only thing they can do that can really hurt the government is to not ride the bus. The African American community made up the majority of the population of people who rides the public transportation, so with the boycott going on the government would be losing a great deal of money. That wasn’t easy because not very much of colored people had car, and the city declared that it was illegal for cab drivers to reduce their rate, even though it was difficult for the protracted to get to work, or supermarket they didn’t give up, they stood up for what was right. Supporters from all over the country send money to support the movement, the movement lasted for over a year, when finally, the Supreme Court declared the local law enforcing racial separation unconstitutional and Montgomery had to desegregation its public transportation system. This case was one of the success cases from the civil rights movement.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of the first major protests for Martin Luther King Jr. It originally started with a young girl named Claudette Colvin who didn't give up her seat on the bus for a white man. But, there was more of an impact when Rosa Parks did the same thing some months later. As the bus came to more of its stops the white section of the bus was full and the bus driver asked Rosa to stand so they could sit. When she didn’t move she was arrested. “On the night that Rosa Parks was arrested, E.D. Nixon, head of the local NAACP chapter met with Martin Luther King Jr. and other local civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott.” (Martin Luther King Jr. Biography) The NAACP all agreed that Martin should lead the boycott

            The historical event of Rosa Parks passively protesting against the racial rule of African Americans having to sit in the back of the bus was the confidence booster that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Because the event itself meant so much to the African American community, the image reflects power.

During the Jim Crow era, spanning from 1876 to 1965, the United States was racially segregated both at the federal and state level. The legal legitimacy of segregation was upheld by a Supreme Court ruling in 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson that determined the concept of “separate but equal” to be constitutional. This institutionalized segregation, and although in theory “separate but equal” (Plessy 163) meant that everyone would receive the same public services, in reality those meant for people of color were of far inferior quality than those for whites. This was especially true in the Southern States, where segregation was enforced de jure i.e. enforced by law, while segregation in the Northern States was mostly on a de facto basis.

“Montgomery federal court ruled that any law requiring racially segregated seating on buses violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That amendment, adopted in 1868 following the American Civil War (1861-65), guarantees all citizens, regardless of race, equal rights and equal protection under state and federal laws. The city appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court's decision on December 20, 1956. Montgomery's buses were integrated on December 21, 1956, and the boycott ended. It had lasted 381 days.”

According to Reading Like a Historian, the textbook states “King and the others called for a black boycott of the Montgomery bus system. The boycott meant blacks refused to ride the buses. For months, the buses were almost empty because most of the riders had been black. Then, the boycott spread to white businesses in downtown Montgomery.”.During the 1950's they believed that white people were more important so they discriminated but the bus boycott was successful due to the dedication of the black community in which they

Before the boycott began many blacks were arrested and fined. Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat in the colored section for a white man. Rosa was part of a group trying to stop segregation in a peaceful manner. They needed some one to stand up for the cause but Rosa never thought it would be here. Rosa was arrested and fined 10 dollars just because she didn't move. Many blacks used the busses so the group wanted to do something with them but they didn't know what. When Rosa trial began for not moving the boycott started.

Civil Rights Research Paper The Montgomery Bus Boycott played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a freedom movement directed at providing equality for African Americans. Beginning on December 1, 1995, the boycott was initiated with the case of Rosa Parks’ arrest, aimed at only being a nonviolent protest. By boycotting Montgomery buses for over a year, the black community was finally able to desegregate buses, but not without obstacles presented specifically by the white community.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott happened from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, located in Montgomery, Alabama, It was the first large-scale protest against segregation. Due to the success of the boycott many, more protests were to come. After the boycott began, blacks marched through the town to get the right to vote. Some of the marches were in the rain too. The boycott lasted over 380 days. That over a year with no buses; a year walking and carpooling and taking taxis. 50,000 blacks participated in the boycott (history). This means 50,000 people didn't buy bus tickets. 75 percent of

First off let's start start with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Rosa Parks was an African American woman who refused to give up her seat to give up her seat on the bus. This lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Empty buses became a regular sight in Montgomery.It lasted from Dec. 5,1955 to Dec. 20,1956.

The Bus Boycott sparked a thing across the nation. African American refused to ride the bus and they walked everywhere. They walked back and forth to work. They walked to the grocery store. They walked everywhere. The buses were losing business so they opened the bus up to anybody and you could sit anywhere you want. People were getting attacked by dogs and even people. It was outrageous. Rosa Parks helped with the Civil Rights movement.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of the highlights of the Civil Rights Movement. The boycott had legal, social and political aspects and almost all aspects of the Civil Rights Movement were political. The purpose of the movement was elimination of all aspects of racial segregation and constitutional protection of African Americans. By recruiting popular support and organizing demonstrations, the Montgomery Bus Boycott applied pressure on political leaders. The legal aspect of the Montgomery Bus Boycott comes from advocacy for constitutional protection. Following the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling of 1896, some state governments, mainly in the south, established ‘separate but equal’ doctrines for segregation law. Essentially, the Montgomery Bus Boycott challenged the legality of the segregation laws and sought to reverse the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was social because it exposed the degrading aspects of segregation laws to an entire