Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955 Rosa Parks was told by a white man to get up and move to the back of the bus because he wanted to sit in her seat. During that time segregation was still enforced especially in buses. Bus drivers had just about the same power to enforce segregation on their bus as the police. This incident led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott that was done with hopes that segregation laws would be discontinued.
Rosa Parks was born in 1913 and died in 2005. During her life, her main occupation was as a civil rights activist. Rosa Parks and her husband Raymond Parks, were active participates in NAACP. She registered to vote in 1945, a dangerous thing to do at the time, after being denied her first two attempts. When she was arrested in 1955, she worked as a seamstress. ”When the police officer arrived to arrest Parks, he asked, "Why don't you stand up?" and Parks replied, "I don't think I should have to."” (Langston). These few words shook the world; African Americans would never be the same.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was originally planned for only one day but ended up lasting three hundred and eighty-one days (Langston). African Americans made up about seventy percent of the riders on the bus so when African Americans boycotted the bus system, the buses took a major loss.
(To view an article about Rosa Park’s trail and the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, click here.)
After the Montgomery bus lines realized they had suffered a serious blow from the boycott, they began making changes like the bus drivers couldn’t call the African Americans names and the buses went in areas that were highly populated with African Americans. While these small gestures were appreciated it was not enough to end the boycott.
When the boycott wouldn’t end, the White Citizen’s Council called for violent action against the those who boycotted. Martin Luther King Jr. was a high ranking official that helped organize the boycott and received many violent actions toward him and his family. One of these actions included a bomb being put outside his house which, thankfully, didn’t injure anybody. “On February 21, 1956, a Montgomery grand jury, utilizing an old antiunion law that outlawed conspiracies to block a lawful business, indicted King and 100 others for their part in the boycott” (Montgomery). They were found guilty and King was given a one thousand dollar fine.
“On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal court's ruling, declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was officially over” (Cozzens). While the boycott may have been over, the Whites were not happy with the integrated bus systems. To express their unhappiness Whites, bombed churches and Black leader’s houses, snipped the buses and tried to create a White’s only bus system (Cozzens). None of the stopped the Blacks from celebrating their victory; in fact, the African Americans were less afraid of the Whites than ever before. This may have been a small victory in the history of the civil rights movement but it was a major victory to begin the civil rights movement.
(View and listen to Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Click here
Works Cited
"Buses Boycotted Over Race Issue." Historical New York Times. 6 Dec. 1955. Web. 9 Dec.
Cozzens, Lisa. "The Montgomery Bus Boycott." Watson.org. 29 June 1998. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. <http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/montbus.html>.
King Jr., Martin L. "Address to the First Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting**." King Institute Home. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/the_addres_to_the_first_montgomery_improvement_association_mia_mass_meeting/>.
Langston, Donna. "Parks, Rosa." A to Z of American Women Leaders and Activists, A to Z of Women. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2002. (Updated 2005.) American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=WLA101&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 9, 2011).
ItemID=WE52&iPin=WLA101&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 9, 2011).
"Montgomery Bus Boycott." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
Rosa Parks Facts - Facts about Rosa Parks. Web. 09 Dec. 2011. <http://www.rosaparksfacts.com/>.-image
"Rosa Parks, Montgomery Bus Boycott & Jim Crow." Sunny Nash - Race Relations in America. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://sunnynash.blogspot.com/2011/02/rosa-parks-montgomery-bus-boycott-jim.html>.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ_gNgQsXzQ
