The black community organized and distributed 35,000 leaflets asking Blacks to stay off the buses that day. During the boycott Blacks rode in carpools, while others traveled in black-operated cabs that charged the same fare as the bus, 10 cents. Most of the remainder of the 40,000 black commuters walked, some as far as 20 miles. In the end, the boycott lasted for 382 days. Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company's finances.
Rosa Parks, a former NAACP secretary, was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. This was the start of the Bus Boycotts. These were a string of non-violent protests throughout Montgomery, Alabama. African Americans made up approximately 70% of the city’s bus passengers and almost all of them stopped using the buses. A young pastor – Martin Luther King Jr, organized the campaign.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott The Montgomery Bus Boycott was an event in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. It took place on the 5th December 1955, to December 20th 1956, and it is regarded as the first large-scale demonstration against segregation in U.S. On December 1, 1955, four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, and African-American woman, refused to yield her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus. She was arrested, found guilty, and fined $10. The boycott of public buses by blacks in Montgomery began on the day of Parks’ court hearing and lasted 381days. The U.S Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system.
He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, when he was just 39 years old. His birthday is now observed as a national holiday on the third Monday in January. Martin Luther King Jr., pastor and civil rights leader, was put into jail after being part of the Birmingham campaign. King was serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was asked by an Alabama group to come to Birmingham and participate in a "nonviolent direct-action program". He and members of his organization joined The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and organized non-violent protests against racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama.
During this time Rosa Parks was arrested for failure to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus. In 1955, the incident regarding the bus lite a fire under the Civil Rights Movement. Kings experience, passion for the cause and position in the community gave him the credentials to become a leader of the 381 day boycott of the city buses. On December 20, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses to be unconstitutional this was a major victory for the Civil Rights cause and also proved that Kings non-violent methods of protest could yield
The freedom rides were when civil rights activists rode interstate buses into the southern US in 1961 to test the supreme courts decision of ruling segregation on interstate transport illegal. As soon as the riders hit Montgomery, they were mobbed and attacked by white southerners. Each of these actions showed the world that peaceful means were being used to try and gain true equality as well as including whites this meant the movement widened. The Albany campaign in November 1961 was recognised as a major defeat. Under William Anderson, a number of local black organisations were formed in an attempt to desegregate the city.
This was one of the first major steps in the civil rights movement. The Freedom Riders were a group of civil rights activists whose sole aim was to end racial segregation. It started in 1961 when student protestors rioted against racial segregation. Many rode on buses to segregated states in USA in order to test the laws of segregation. There were even white people who sat next to the black people in order to show their support that they were all equal.
How important was the Montgomery bus boycott in changing the civil rights of African-Americans? The Montgomery bus boycott was an event that started in the, 1st, December 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in a segregated bus to a white man, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott to occur. I think this event was the most important in changing the civil rights of African-Americans. However, other event like ‘little rock’ and the ‘sit-ins’ were also very important events in changing civil rights. I believe the Montgomery bus boycott was the most important event in the 1950s -1960s in changing the civil rights for African-Americans, because this event gained internationally attention.
King’s first leadership role in the civil rights movement was as an executive in the National Association for the Advancement of colored people where he lead and organized the year long Montgomery Bus Boycott. Later the Boycott would lead to the U.S Supreme Court to rule that segregated buses were unconstitutional. He also became President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The group was different because they only used nonviolent strategies to get their point across and expose the evils of oppression. Martin Luther King spoke over 2,500 times and led marches and nonviolent demonstrations for black people to vote, desegregation, labor and other basic civil rights for all.
Many other Black minorities have attempted the same action in an effort to take a stand against segregation. Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson too refused to move to the back of the bus in Alabama, and they were both arrested. In 1935, The Wagner Act was enacted. This act legalized collective bargaining and labor organizing. The Wagner Act established the right to unionize.