Montgomery Bus Boycott Research Paper

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.

Annabelle Wintson Bower History 8A March 12, 2018 Title Although the slavery was abolished in 1865, the rights given to African Americans were not nearly equal to those of white Americans. After slavery was abolished, inequality in American society ran high, and many laws were put in place to restrict the rights and abilities of African Americans. Some laws include the Jim Crow Laws (1870 to 1950s) and the Supreme Court Ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that ruled that there could be “separate but equal” facilities and services for people of color and white Americans.

In December 1955 Rosa Parks, the secretary of the Alabama NAACP, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white man as was required by city law. In reaction to this arrest a group of black women called for an economic strike against the city buses in the form of a boycott. The decision to pursue the boycott followed an inspirational speech by Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–68), a young preacher who encouraged acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. The boycott lasted almost a year until the Supreme Court ruled the Montgomery bus law unconstitutional in late 1956”(Riggs). This solemnly paved the way for Martin Luther King to explain his

Montgomery Bus Boycott- In Montgomery, 1955, blacks were forced to sit in the back of the bus. One day Rosa Parks, a true hero, said no when asked to move to the back of the bus. She was arrested and that is when the boycott started. African American Men and Women didn’t ride the bus for more than a year.

King went through many obstacles as organizing protests. For example, white racial terrorists had bombed King’s home. The boycott had become a success in 1956, when the Supreme Court of the United States made Montgomery have equal seating privileges on public

The boycotts were, the Montgomery bus boycott, the attempt by those Montgomery, AL to desegregate the bus system. Non-violent protest like, the one adopted by Martin Luther King Jr. and the

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a fundamental part of desegregating buses and gaining better treatment for African-American bus riders. The Nashville Sit-ins helped to desegregate eating

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was as big as it was , because of

This became known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Bus companies began to loose tons of money because whites even began to join in. Eventually, buses desegregated so they would start gaining the money they were losing.

struggle in Alabama. The law of segregated public transportation was later lifted after the city of Montgomery was defeated in several court rulings, which led to large financial losses. The boycott lasted for 382 days and those days were full of violence and harassment. It included attacks on MLK Jr’s house and E.D Nixon’s house (E.D Nixon was the head of the Montgomery NAACP branch).

The Mongomery Bus Boycott, which took place on December 5, 1956 and lasted until December 20, 1956. What this exactly was is when African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The most prominant name of this time that made the boycott what it is today is Rosa Parks. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, refused to give up her seat to a white man while on a Montgomery bus. Thus, resulting in her getting arrested and fined.

When she got arrested, it had started a protest against it. When it was heard about her arrest, people took notice and did something about it. According to the article, “fliers spread Word, and activists formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to organize the protest,” (history.com). People had heard about the protest and helped spread the word around the community. “As African Americans previously constituted 70 percent of the Montgomery bus ridership, the municipal transit system suffered gravely during the boycott,” (History.com).

For 381 days, activists coordinated a bus boycott, which placed a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners. This was because the majority of people using the buses were colored people rather than whites. These activists chose Martin Luther King Jr. to be their leader and the official spokesperson for this protest. Because of events like the Bus Boycott and the March on Washington, which were non-violent protests, they were able to help bring about such landmark legislations like the

During John Lewis’s early life, the Montgomery Bus Boycott inspired him to get into the civil rights movement. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest based off of Rosa Parks refusing to get up for a white person. She was arrested and put into jail; her arrests sparked the

It caused further segregation throughout the country. As blacks began to speak out for freedom and equality, whites pushed back. Rather than listening to the speeches of black leaders in order to understand their plight for equality, whites ignored peaceful protests and instead used police force to subdue large crowds. The Montgomery bus boycott succeeded in ending the ordinance for the segregation between blacks and whites on public buses. However, it further segregated the social interactions between the two races.