The Montgomery Bus Boycott: Civil Rights Activist

was a very active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP). While with the NAACP, he was part of an exclusive group called the “executive committee”. This is where he was asked to lead the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Boycott began in the winter of 1955 and lasted 382 days. This was to protest the segregated bus system that Montgomery, Alabama had in place.

The march was launched by A. Philip Randolph, a founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, to raise awareness of the exclusion of African Americans in American economy. Key civil rights groups, such as, NAACP, CORE, SNCC, and SCLC, participated in organising this march. On August 28, 1963, approximately 250,000 Americans, came from all over US, gathered in Washington, D.C. for a peaceful demonstration to support civil rights and social equality for African Americans. They marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial and it was hugely covered by the media with news coverage. Influential and impactful speeches were also included in this event, for example, Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream”.

Montgomery Bus Boycott The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a crucial part of the Civil Rights Movement. Lasting from December 1, 1955 to December 20, 1956, it was a time of protesting against the public buses to end racial segregation. It took over a year but the U.S. Supreme Court finally decided to make the segregation of city buses unconstitutional. This was not only a victory for the people of Alabama, but it also led to more participation in activism and civil rights movements all around the country. It allowed certain people, like Martin Luther King to rise and become a figure of hope.

This march will become known as Bloody Sunday...because of the violent attack that took place on blacks by the police (Wallenfeldt). This march was watched by millions of Americans and through this march, many whites saw just how cruel the blacks were treated. King organized another march on the same bridge that Bloody Sunday took place, and in this march hundreds of whites traveled to Selma to participate in the march. Another example of the movie portraying history right is when we see Johnson giving his famous “we shall overcome” speech, when confirming the equality between black and

Everyday, people struggle to be treated equally and civil rights make it possible for everyone black or white to be treated equally. As a result of Bloody Sunday, this event helped blacks speak up and be heard. The impact Bloody Sunday had on the early struggle for civil rights was, it was a march that first began with 600 people to fight for the rights of African-Americans to vote. On August 6th 1965, the Federal

Focusing specifically on the opposition of racial segregation, The Civil Rights movement symbolized the need for change across America. Between the years of 1950 and 1960, events such as; the March on Washington, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, speeches, protests, and sit-ins, directly defined such opposition. Due to such events, two outstanding leaders of their time, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X emerged into the public eye and began to impact the Civil Rights movement. At a turning point of the century, the two men took charge and became icons across the world while resonating significantly with African American minorities. With such in mind, the two men had extreme differences in their morals, ideals, and religions; however, both deemed

Rosa Parks was an African American woman who disobeyed an order to give up her seat to a white man on the bus. She would then be dragged off the bus and was fined. This is the first well-known time that a black person had violated the segregation laws. Rosa’s brother had asked Martin Luther King Jr. to help with the boycott. He agreed and then he warned other ministers about the boycott.

In 1955 racial segregation continued in the Southern region of America. African Americans protested non-violent wars, but were not lucky enough at that time. Second, leaders like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. Andrew Goodman, Malcolm X and many others fought like a lion but without violence. Rosa Parks took a stand on a bus, instead of giving her seat up like she was “supposed” to she sat their protesting. This serious action led to the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted more than a year.

He is a member of the Zeta Chapter at Morris Brown College. I selected him because of his story. Umzae Hosea Williams was born to blind parents. On multiple occasions he was beaten and left for dead. Yet throughout all of these setbacks, he went to college, became a remarkable man of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, and made a difference in the world as a civil rights activist.

King didn’t deserve to be killed was because he was trying to end segregation. The Rosa Parks event encouraged him to do a 381 day bus boycott. This bus boycott lasted until congress made it unconstitutional for integrated busses. Dr. King was the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association which was an association that fought for equality for African Americans. One of Dr. King’s most famous march was the march on Selma.