Montgomery+Bus+Boycott

Civil Rights Megan Bratton

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The Montgomery Bus Boycott was located in Montgomery, Alabama. It occurred in 1955-1956 and at this time, blacks experienced segregation in almost every aspect of their lives. Many people (both whites and blacks) depended on the buses for transportation. At this time, black people were to sit in the back of the bus, providing the front of the bus for white people. If the buses got over crowded, the bus driver instructed black people to exit the bus and leave room for the whites. In the early 1950’s fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin decided to take a stand and when instructed to give up her seat to a white passenger and she refused. She was arrested on the spot. Month’s later, eighteen-year-old, Mary Louise Smith also refused to give up her seat, like Colvin, she was arrested. The girls were tried and fined which only added to the anger of the black community. December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to get up from her seat when she was instructed by the bus driver in order to accommodate more room for whites. Minutes after her refusal, she was arrested and sent to jail. After the Park’s story became public, the black community decided to boycott. Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, H.H. Hubbard, and Ms. A. W. West organized the movement and held a meeting the day after Park’s arrest. The attendants ranged from students, to church groups, to community elite. Here, it was decided that in order that in order to combat the racism of the segregation laws of the boycott were vital. The group compiled three demands: 1) Blacks would not ride the buses until polite treatment by bus drivers were guaranteed to them 2) Segregation must be abolished on buses and a first come first served policy adapted 3) The employment of black bus drivers. Until these demands were respected, the black community would not even step foot on a bus. As the boycott continued, whites became tired of it and began using varying methods to attempt to end the boycott such as: violence, arrest, or leaking false reports that the boycott was over. The blacks realized they could no longer try to fight Montgomery county therefore they filed a federal lawsuit against Montgomery’s segregation laws. June 4, 1954 it was decided that segregation laws were unconstitutional, but this did not end the movement because the Montgomery county lawyers stated they would appeal the Supreme Court’s decision. December 20, 1956 the mandate came to Montgomery. The next King, Abernathy, and Nixon were he first to integrate the buses. The boycott was finally over.

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This website is about different voices in the boycott, not just Rosa Park’s. Inez Bas, Aurelia Shines Browder Coleman, Claudette Colvin, Samuel Gadson, Thelma Glass, Thomas Gray, Urelee Gordon, Vera Harris, Bob Ingram, Gwen Patton, Idessa Reddon, John F. Sawyer Jr., and Rev Donnie Williams all played big roles in the Montgomery bus boycott. The list continues to go on, but more incidences have occurred that people are unaware of because the “Rosa Park’s incident” happened to be such a big deal. This website proves that the boycott didn’t happen because of Rosa Parks considering she was not the first person to refuse to get up to accommodate white people. There were many people who were just as brave as she was to take a stand. Here, there are stories shared that horrible things have happened to people because of their race or ethnicity. This website does not take anything away from Parks, but shows that she wasn’t the first, or the best, she was just the last and the black community decided that. These people realized that after their entire lives of being treated so unfairly they didn’t care if they were going to get arrested or not, they were going to take a stand.

Another extremely important, yet shocking key point about this website is that once the boycott was established and in progress a white women decided to join it. Thought it was dangerous for anyone, white or black to join the boycott, Sarah Herbert a white woman didn’t let that stop her. She said that her and a few other white women offered to transport black people in their community. These other white women have been deceased. Herbert’s husband always supported her and her decisions dealing with the boycott. Her husband, an FBI agent investigated the Ku Klux Klan and would attend meeting to gain information about their activities. There was a cross-burned in front of their house, and her husband died in 1965, he year of the historic Selma-to-Montgomery March.