Leaders and goals: Black citizens wanted to protest the Jim Crow Law. In doing so they organized a boycott of the bus system to demand an end to segregated seating. (Alan Brinkley page 747) “The group elected Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-68), the 26-year-old-pastor of Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as its president, and decided to continue the boycott until the city met its demands.” (History.com Staff) At first, “members of the WPC and local NAACP decided to do a one day bus boycott. The boycott was very successful with having 90 percent of blacks off the buses December 5. They continued to boycott for 381 days.” (Britannica School)
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The consequences: “Many white citizens retaliated against the African American community: King’s home was bombed, and many boycotters were threatened or fired from their jobs. Several times the police arrested protesters and took them to jail, once charging 80 leaders of the boycott with violating a 1921 law that barred conspiracies to interfere with lawful business without just cause.” (Britannica School)
Success: After 381 days, the boycott ended in success; segregated busses were voted unconstitutional. “Montgomery's black leaders hailed the decision. King called it, “ a glorious daybreak to end a long night of enforced segregation.”” (Lydia Bjornlund page 72) “The boycott was very successful and made Martin King Luther Jr well known. It inspired nonviolent civil right movements.” (Britannica School) “The most important contribution of the Montgomery Bus Boycott was its legacy of nonviolent resistance.” (Lydia Bjornlund page 83)
Introduction: The Montgomery Bus Boycott started in Montgomery, Alabama. It is known as “the first large-scale demonstration against segregation in the U.S.” (History.com staff) On December 1 1956 “Rosa Parks refused to get up from the front of the bus and move to the back by a white man. This triggered the boycott.” (Britannica School) According to Jim Crow Laws, it was required for blacks to give their seats up to whites in the south. ( Alan Brinkley page 747) “Although Parks was not the first resident of Montgomery to refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger, local civil rights leaders decided to capitalize on her arrest as a chance to challenge local segregation laws.” (Britannica School)
Bibliography:
Bjornlund, Lydia. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Farmington Hills: Gale Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
History.com Staff. "Montgomery Bus Boycott." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. <http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott>.
"Montgomery bus boycott." Britannica School.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/543545>.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation. N.p.: Chris Freitag, n.d. Print.
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