Analysis Of The Tallahassee Bus Protest Story By Kenzie Steele

Written by Reverend Charles Kenzie Steele, “The Tallahassee Bus Protest Story” explains the account of two African-American women that were ordered to stand in a jam-packed bus instead of sitting on the last available seat because a woman (who was white) was occupying the end of that seat. Even though the white woman did not mind if the African-American women shared the seat with her, the bus driver stood firm in his belief that it would be inappropriate and beyond unthinkable for people of color to be seated with a person that was white. The two African-American women decided that they were not going to accept this blatant prejudice and proceeded to stay where they were and not stand or move to the colored section of the bus but their efforts were short lived since the bus driver called the police to detain and charge them for disorderly conduct and “placing themselves in a position to riot”. These swift series of event prompted swift outrage and shock among FAMU students and those within

It was awe-inspiring to read and learn how this bus boycott basically put the final nail in the coffin for the public bus transportation business in thirty-three days and would not compromise their efforts whatsoever for half-hearted solutions that were proposed to them (one of them being that people can get any seat that they wished but they would still have to be racially segregated). I also respect the fact that they did not have to resort to physical violence in order to prove or make a point, instead they decided to hurt something that would leave a much deeper wound than any knife, bat or gun and that was attacking the white man’s fat wallet which was heavily filled and lined with the hard-earned money of the highly unappreciated African-American