The Pain and the Promise: a Story of the Tallahassee Bus Boycott

An man from India deeply influenced a black man in America who persuaded black Americans to peacefully seek civil rights. Blacks in America were once slaves. They had neither freedom nor rights. Now, in the 20th century, segregation has been abolished and discrimination has largely been reduced and blacks are more able to live freely as American citizens. In Early 1950’s, blacks did not have civil rights, so they had to fight for their freedom. In 1955, blacks decided to rally together for social justice and planned a boycott. This boycott became known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott was pivotal in the Civil Right Movement by energizing blacks, particularly in the South, to become more involved in politics. This occurred with

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.

     One of the major issues of the Civil War was slavery, and even with a victory by the North, blacks rights did not improve very much. Throughout individual Southern states, Black Codes were passed in state legislatures to repress the suffrage of black males. “All freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattos…with no lawful employment or business… shall be fined… and imprisoned…” In an effort to counteract these laws, the federal government passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. These Amendments were only effective to a minimal degree, because the Southerners found other ways to restrict the opportunities of blacks. Southern whites organized secret societies such as the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate blacks and white reformers. Often times, violence was used by these secret societies to express their views. These Reconstruction policies dealing with blacks were not very efficient, for blacks did not receive equal

“For many years now Negroes in Montgomery and so many other areas have been inflicted with the paralysis of crippling fears on buses in our community. On so many occasions, Negroes have been intimidated and humiliated and impressed-oppressed-because of the sheer fact that they were Negroes.”

King Jr. continued to endure the hardships, he would soon find out that he would be rewarded for his perseverance, when society was soon affected in a positive way. During the protests police ordered violent acts to stop the protesters and many protesters were jailed. The violent police acts were shown on television. The actions taken horrified many Americans (Marazani 3). Since the unjust acts were finally being televised, citizens of the United States, were now actually seeing and realizing the cruel actions that were being taken against protesters, by American officers. Now that America was finally realizing the harsh acts against African American protestors, Dr. King Jr’s goal of ending segregation was almost accomplished by making the problem known throughout America. Since all of America now knew about the brutality that police were enforcing against African Americans, there was an outrage and an agreement was reached and employers agreed to desegregate public places, and employ African Americans (Birmingham 3). Therefore the demonstrations finally came to an end now that Dr King Jr’s goal had finally been achieved. Dr. King Jr. and the protests had successfully desegregated the city of Birmingham, as well as achieving rights of equality for African Americans. However this would not have been possible without the Letters from the Birmingham

Theres is no secret that the blatant civil rights violations imposed on blacks in America through racial segregation laws served as an injustice to all American citizens in the mid-1900s. At the heart of the segregation battle was the obvious mistreatment, both physical and emotional, bestowed onto African Americans by their white counterparts, especially in the South. After decades of harsh mistreatment, African American leaders sought out to challenge, and ultimately change, the laws and legislation drafted by their government centuries before those men and women existed. Though peaceful protests were a common method of action blacks chose to partake in, many of these individuals were met commonly with acts of violence from angry southerners

African Americans fought long and hard to achieve racial equality during the Civil Rights movement through protests and boycotts. But, not all forms of protest were violent. Sit-ins were a non-violent form of protest and proved to be a very effective. Students would go into a restaurant or cafe, order food, sit-down at the “white” area, demand service, and not leave until they got served. They never got served; this form of protest would go on for weeks.

During America’s Reconstruction Era, Confederate States were forced to rewrite their constitutions in order to accept the Fourteenth Amendment, thus accepting the end of slavery in the South. Florida was under no exception. Its constitutions were required to give African Americans equality under the law. While it was not required, the new constitutions also began to create the public education system that is in place today. Over the years of Constitutional development and reconstruction efforts, Floridian society was havocked with white supremacy which, in turn, resulted in African Americans to experience radical changes in their educational and work life.

Following the seemingly successful 1950s Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, a protest for segregation where African Americans under the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) refused to ride Alabama buses, ended after 381 days when the Supreme Court ordered Alabama to integrate its bus systems, the state figuratively dragged its heels in changing its transit. In fact, ten years later when the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses unconstitutional nationwide yet southern states still refuse to integrate their buses, despite attending college for a ministerial career and knowing the likelihood that the southerners would violently resist, James L. Farmer Jr. , a Gandhi-influenced activist, saw the opportunity to

Following the seemingly successful 1950’s Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, a protest for segregation where African Americans under the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) refused to ride Alabama buses, ending after 381 days when the Supreme Court ordered Alabama to integrate its bus systems, the state figuratively dragged its heels in changing its transit. In fact, ten years later when the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses unconstitutional nationwide, yet southern states still refused to integrate their buses, despite attending college for a ministerial career and knowing the likelihood that the southerners would violently resist, James L. Farmer Jr. , a Gandhi-influenced activist, saw the opportunity to hold these states accountable. To do so, Farmer, organizing what he came to call “Freedom Rides”, set out to train 12 volunteers along with himself in nonviolent protest to prepare the riders to ride through those stubborn states, in turn desegregating them . While acquiring his degree from Howard University, the college where he decided to co-found and Direct the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Farmer studied Gandhi, this strongly influencing the activist to approach the protest peacefully . Choosing to model the Freedom Rides after a similar bus protest, Farmer followed Bayard Rustin’s “Journey of Reconciliation”; however, unlike Rustin, Farmer emphasized thoroughly training his riders in a three-day workshop that focused on

The story of the boycott is extremely different in the kids book . They speak of Rosa Parks as a black tired women who refused to give up her seat. When in fact she was a activist with ties with all sorts of black political groups.Rosa was tired of segregation and used her inhumane arrest to start a boycott that would change the transportation system forever. Joanne speaks of the boycott as a planned event that grew legs once four African Americans women got feed up over unfair treatments by whites, and city bus officials. Joanne tells a story of how they used their political power to make a movement that would unite black Americans for the first time in American history. The child’s book paints black political people as criminals who are causing

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.

My name is Morgan, and in my opinion, it is ok to break the law depending on what law you are breaking and why you are breaking it. The laws I will be focusing on will be laws that will do no harm to anybody if broken. I will also be using the Montgomery Bus Boycott as a historical example.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful due to the dedication and hard work of the black community because if they had not had anything like heart, dedication, courage or hard work they would have never made a difference.

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