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

Due to the gradual elimination of African-American rights and the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South to enforce such rights, the end of Reconstruction surfaced in 1877. In the eyes of blacks, Reconstruction was a point in history where they could see their civil rights expanding before their very own eyes. On the contrary, whites were deeply disturbed at the way their once “white supremacy” government was dwindling in the rear-view mirror behind them. This fourteen year period known as Reconstruction houses the memories of temporary freedom, scandal, backdoor deals, and the unresolved social, political, and economical issues of our country.

The acclaimed book begins with Georgia beginning as a dry and modest colony. As the years pass, these ideals and morals are changed to desiring more than a hardworking farmer. The people of Georgia desired to have slaves. Therefore, Georgia changed and started a path to become identical to South Carolina. However, as the amount of plantations sky-rocketed, so did the need for more slaves. It is a marvel to imagine that I live in the city of Savannah that was a beacon for the selling and exchanging of human beings.

Old South, New South, or Down South?: Florida and the Modern Civil Rights Movement is a book full of many insightful accounts of the history of our so called Sunshine State, Florida meant to expose the dirt that is otherwise brushed under the carpet by our government. It is meant to expose the stories of racial discrimination and violence that went on in Florida beginning in the 1950s and how difficult it has been for African Americans to live a comfortable life. I believe that this book did a good job of offering a lot of information and history while “presenting new visions of Florida’s racial past and encourages new ideas about what civil rights meant to constituencies around the state and possible the nation.” In key Jr’s study he

The African-American during the Reconstruction Era probably felt victorious as well as discomfited. Prior to the Civil war, slaves hoped freedom would give them the right of equal status in American society, but their dream of an egalitarian America was impeded after Lincoln’s assassination. To add to former slave woes, the southern economy lay destitute. Many southerners felt the added wage earners (former slaves) would destroy the cotton business’s productivity. Stated thus, many African-Americans were subjugated by White Elitists. Nevertheless, black Floridians advocated for economic, social, and even political equality, despite the hostile environment. This is interesting because it goes against the popular misconception of Florida’s

The African American during the Reconstruction Era probably felt victorious as well as discomfited. Prior to the Civil war, slaves vehemently hoped freedom would give them the right of equal status in American society, but to their surprise, their dream of an egalitarian America was impeded after the assassination of President Lincoln. Their lives became drastically different and difficult in an era that was increasingly contumacious to their well wishes. The end of the Civil War brought social, moral, economic and political changes within the historical context of Florida’s history. History books have, in general, portrayed Florida as the most progressive southern state in American history, especially when considering Florida’s

The State of Florida was widely known as one of the biggest controversies Florida had to endure. Why did it take so long for them to act upon this brutal state of affairs? The problem with this dilemma is that racism is shown even in the Supreme Court. If we didn't live in a society where there was racism the world would be a much better place. Racism has been a problem throughout the ages of time in this world.

As much as Reconstruction had initially tried to help the South, it was the sole goal of this movement to, “undo as much as possible of Reconstruction.” State facilities originally that were supposed to help everyone were closed down, and the gap between black and white expenditures on schooling increased. Due to the depression in the 1890’s this worsened the situation for black families trying to make a living in the South couldn’t keep up their farms or the places that their children would learn. “In 1900, no public high schools for blacks existed in the South. Black elementary schools, one observer reported, occupied buildings “as bad as stables””. New laws about segregation also affected blacks in more ways than just demoralization, it also showed what kind of jobs were considered good work for them. In the instance of segregation on railroads, “many blacks could be found in “whites only” railroad cars. But they entered as servants and nurses, not as paying customers entitled to equal treatment. The rise of lynching also affected the way blacks lived their lives, by controlling the way they vote, how they treated whites, and how they couldn’t rely on the justice system to address their grievances. An example of the reduced number of voters is best seen in Louisiana, where the number of voters dropped from 130, 000 to 1, 342, which is directly linked to the use of violence as a way to intimidate black voters. Blacks also had to be careful how they acted around white, since murder wasn’t a federal crime and was handled by the state, many blacks were lynched without fair trials and accused of crimes like raping white women, murder, and theft. A majority of the accused never when to trial. All in all blacks in the South were largely affected negatively as a result in policy changes, social factors, and widespread violence. This injustice carried on

Reconstruction has been called the second greatest crisis faced by the United States of America, the first being the Civil War. The war had been won, but now the American government and people faced the challenge of rebuilding everything that had been torn down into a new nation. Many difficulties were faced, and in some ways the war continued to be fought. This time, everything from the courthouse to the bus seats served as the battleground. The nation was demanding change, and yet was unwilling to create it. Illustrating the rollercoaster of victories and defeats that was Reconstruction, W.E.B. Du Bois said, “The slave went free, stood a brief moment in the sun, then moved back again towards slavery”. For African Americans, change was painstakingly gradual and often seemed to far to ever arrive, but was nonetheless closer than ever before. Reconstruction was a failure to a mixed extent, initially yielding signs of social and political improvement in the lives of African Americans, but showing mostly negative effects in the long term, such as unfavorable economic developments and the triggering of a vicious response from white extremists that repealed much of the progress formerly made.

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.

“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.”

contended that the refusal to admit the children to the school was a denial of

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.

White violence and intimidation created fear among the black people as they feared for their lives. The hostile environment against the black people was a major factor in preventing them from exercising their civil rights. They feared if they exercised their civil rights, they would be accused of killings, rape or theft and be lynched. They opted to stay put rather than risk their lives.

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