The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Paree Khandelwal

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Contents

Introduction

Background

Causes

Consequences

Conclusion

Bibliography

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Introduction

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, and was meant to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system but in all of society, eventually. The struggle lasted roughly a year and led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses unconstitutional along the “separate but equal” policy of the time.

Background

In the 1950s the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) was involved in the struggle to end segregation on buses and trains. In 1952 segregation on inter-state railways was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. This was followed in 1954 by a similar judgment concerning interstate buses. However, states in the Deep South continued their own policy of transport segregation. This usually involved whites sitting in the front and blacks sitting nearest to the front had to give up their seats to any whites that were standing. African American people who disobeyed the state's transport segregation policies were arrested and fined. On 1st December, 1955,

Rosa Parks, a middle-aged tailor's assistant from Montgomery, Alabama, who was tired after a hard day's work, refused to give up her seat to a white man.

After her arrest, Martin Luther King, a pastor at the local Baptist Church, helped organize protests against bus segregation. He was joined by other campaigners for civil rights, including Ralph David Abernathy, Edgar Nixon and Bayard Rustin. The group was convinced by JoAnn Robinson, of the Women's Political Council, that they should start a bus boycott. The idea being that the black people in Montgomery should refuse to use the buses until passengers were completely integrated. King was arrested and his house was firebombed. Others involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott also suffered from harassment and intimidation, but the protest continued. For 13 months the 17,000 black people in Montgomery walked to work or obtained lifts from the small car-owning black population of the city. Eventually, the loss of revenue and a decision by the Supreme Court on 13th November 1956, forced the Montgomery Bus Company to accept integration. The following month the buses in Montgomery were desegregated. Eventually, the loss of revenue and a decision by the Supreme Court on 13th November 1956, forced the Montgomery Bus Company to accept integration. The following month the buses in Montgomery were desegregated.

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Newspaper article about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This source is reliable because it is a newspaper article about coloured people starting to boycott. It is a primary source. Nettbabe Forum. November 1995. Available from: November 1995. Available from: http://nettababe.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

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Key Cause: Social/Personal

The key cause of this event is the arresting of Rosa Parks for sitting on the ‘whites-only’ section of a bus while she was riding back from work. Parks was ordered to enter at the back of the bus. As she was heading to the back of the bus, the bus driver drove off without her. On that day, Parks promised herself that she would never again ride a bus driven by James F. Blake, the offending driver. On Thursday, December 1, 1955, Parks was sitting in the front-most row for black people. When a Caucasian man boarded the bus, the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back to create a new row for the whites. At that moment, Parks suddenly realized that she was again on a bus driven by Blake. While all of the other black people in her row obeyed, Parks refused, and was arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white man. Found guilty on December 5, Parks

and was arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white man. Found guilty on December 5, Parks was fined $10 plus a court cost of $4, but she appealed. NAACP leader E.D. Nixon had been planning to start a boycott like this and used her arrest to cause the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As a result, Rosa Parks is considered one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement.

Causes

First page of Rosa Park’s police report. This source is reliable because this is the actual copy of the police report. Wikimedia Commons. Rosa Parks Police Report Page 1. December 2, 1995. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosaparks_policereport.jpg

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Second Page of Rosa Park’s police report. This source is reliable because this is the actual copy of the police report. Wikimedia Commons. Rosa Parks Police Report Page 2. December 2, 1995. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosaparks_policereport.jpg

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Another Cause: Political

This bus boycott is also political, because its goal is to change the transport rules of segregating buses and other public transports. Other cases of arrests fro giving up seats for whites include the athletic star Jackie Robinson, who took a similar decision in a conflict with a United States Army officer in Fort Hood, Texas, refusing to move to the back of a bus. Robinson was brought before a court-martial, which claimed him innocent. Another example is the Irene Morgan case, which took place ten years earlier, which resulted in a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court on Commerce Clause grounds. That victory, however, reversed state segregation laws only insofar as they applied to travel in interstate commerce, such as interstate bus travel, and Southern bus companies immediately avoided the Morgan ruling by starting their own Jim Crow rules.

Black activists had begun to build a case to challenge state bus segregation laws around the arrest of a 15-year-old girl, Claudette Colvin, a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery. On March 2, 1955, Colvin was arrested and forcibly removed from a public bus when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. She claimed that her constitutional rights were being violated. At the time, Colvin was active in the NAACP Youth Council, a group to which Parks served as Advisor. Black activists had begun to build a case to challenge state bus segregation laws around the arrest of a 15-year-old girl, Claudette Colvin, a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery. On March 2, 1955, Colvin was handcuffed, arrested and forcibly removed from a public bus when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. She claimed that her constitutional rights were being violated. At the time, Colvin was active in the NAACP Youth Council, a group to which Parks served as Advisor.

Another Cause: Social/Personal

Rosa Parks herself was an active member of the NAACP and she planned, together with E.D. Nixon, president of the local NAACP, to start a bus boycott. The boycott was planned before Parks' arrest by E. D. Nixon, president of the local NAACP chapter and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Nixon planned that her arrest be a test case to allow Montgomery's Black citizens to challenge segregation on the city's public buses. With this goal, community leaders had been waiting for the right person to be arrested, a person who would anger the Black community into action, who would agree to protest non-violently against the segregation laws even if it meant being arrested, and who, most importantly, was "above reproach." When 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested early in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat, E.D. Nixon thought he had found the perfect person, but the teenager turned out to be pregnant. Nixon later explained, "I had to be sure that I had somebody I could win with." Parks, however, was a good volunteer because of her employment, marital status and the fact that she was a hard-working elderly woman, along with her good standing in the community.

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E.D. Nixon with other NAACP members. Second Page of Rosa Park’s police report. This source is reliable because this a photograph clicked by a NAACP member named Troy Davis. Davis, T. The NAACP. November 1995. Available from: http://nettababe.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

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ConsequencesConsequences

Pressure increased across the country and on June 4, 1956, the federal district court ruled that Alabama's racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional. However, an appeal kept the segregation intact, and the boycott continued until, finally, on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court supported the district court's ruling. This victory led to a city rule that allowed black bus passengers to sit almost anywhere they wanted, and the boycott officially ended December 20, 1956. The boycott of the buses had lasted for 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott also had results that reached far beyond the desegregation of public buses and provided more than just a positive answer to the Supreme Court's action against racial segregation. The Montgomery Bus Boycott echoed throughout the United States and sparked the national Civil Rights Movement.

The boycott resulted in the U.S. civil rights movement receiving one of its first victories and gave Martin Luther King, Jr. the national attention that made him one of the prime leaders of the cause.

The key consequences of the Montgomery Bus Boycott are:

1) The value of using the Supreme Court ruling to oppose segregation was further practiced.

2) States could no longer apply their on their own laws of segregation on public transport.

3) Non-violence was shown to be an effective way of direct action in civil rights campaigns.

4) Blacks of all social classes found out that they could work together for each other’s good.

5) Important new leaders were highlighted and were named as national figures−especially Martin Luther King, Jr. 6) The black civil rights movement had been given a powerful boost.

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ConclusionI think the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a very important event in the progress of the Civil Rights Movement because:

1) It was a huge protest, involving all social groups in the black community.

2) It lasted for a long time and showed a lot could be achieved with a non-violent protest.

3) It produced an outstanding leader, an important new organisation, and a new philosophy.

4) It drew the attention of the north to the system of segregation in the south, and exposed the unreasonable behavior of many southern white people. This was helped by the growing influence of TV in the 1960s.

5) In company with the recent Brown decision, it raised the question of federal response to illegal acts of segregation and discrimination in the south.

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BibliographyBooks

1. ROSANOWSKI J., O’CONNEL P., MURDOCH T., 2000. Black Civil Rights in the USA. 2nd ed. New Zealand: Pearson Education

2. PATERSON D., WILLOUGHBY D., WILLOUGHBY S., 2001. Civil Rights in the USA, 1863-1980. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.

Websites

1. WALES J., 2001. Montgomery Bus Boycott. [online]. Huntsville, AL: Donal, J. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_bus_boycott [Accessed 28 October 2011]

2. WALES J., 2001. Rosa Parks. [online]. Huntsville, AL: Donal, J. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_parks [Accessed 28 October 2011] (first and second police reports of Rosa Parks)

3. SIMKIN J., 1997. Montgomery Bus Boycott. [online]. Cupertino, CA: Walker A. Available from: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmontgomeryB.htm [Accessed 28 October 2011]

4. ALABAMA, 1999. Montgomery Bus Boycott. [online]. Montgomery, AL: Alabama State. Available from: http://www.alabamamoments.alabama.gov/sec55ps.html [Accessed 29 October 2011]

5. MOULTON A., PHILLIPS N., STYZA S., 2004. Montgomery Bus Boycott. [online]. Denver, CO: Center for Life Long Learning & Design (L3D). Available from: http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/systems/agentsheets/New-Vista/bus-boycott/ [Accessed 29 October 2011]

6. SMITH K., 2002. Montgomery Bus Boycott. [online] Bridgeport, CN: Fawcett M. Available from: http://http.www.blackhistory.com/cgi-bin/blog.cgi?blog_id=60926&showimg=1&cid=54&club_id=0 [Accessed 29 October 2011]