The Montgomery Bus Boycott was staged to protest the segregation of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott in 1955, launched to protest the arrest of NAACP activist Rosa Parks, marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in the South.
Returning home from work one evening on a crowded bus, Parks was asked to give up her seat by a white man. At the time, the law stated that, as an African American, she must comply. When Parks refused to give up her seat, she was arrested for "disorderly conduct."
To protest Parks' arrest, the leaders of the Women's Political Council decided to stage a one-day bus boycott to coincide with her trial on December 5, 1955. On that day, buses that were usually filled in the evenings with black workers were almost entirely empty.
The boycott proved such a success that Martin Luther King, Jr., and others civil rights leaders decided to continue the protest. The boycott leaders organized the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to oversee the organization and maintenance of the boycott. The MIA also helped organize teams of black cabs and carpoolers to take people to and from work. The boycott continued for over a year and cost the Montgomery public bus company more than $750,000.
While the protestors faced police intimidation and white violence, they followed King's philosophy of non-violence.
Hundreds of protestors lost their jobs, and many more, including King, were arrested. In the end, the boycott was a complete success, with the Supreme Court declaring in November 1956 that the segregation of public buses was unconstitutional.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was the beginning of nonviolent, direct action in the U.S. and thrust the civil rights movement --and with it, Martin Luther King, Jr. --into the news spotlight.
Copyright © 2002 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
|
