A most important Civil Rights lawsuit, Browder v. Gayle was filed in U. S. Federal District Court in Montgomery, Alabama on February 1, 1956. This case is virtually unknown and in name not mentioned in the Civil Rights discussion. Instead, the gains realized through the success of this case are generally attributed to other factions and individuals or events, such as Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin L. King Jr., Rosa L. Parks, and Ed Nixon.
To grasp the relevance of Browder v. Gayle to American History as it relates to Civil Rights, one must first understand the preceding history relative to the Civil Rights struggle. To enter that discussion one must recognize the changes made in American society, dictated by prevailing laws made by the laws of the land, which involved the U. S. Constitution and the courts, which interpreted …show more content…
In 1950, Jo Ann G. Robinson was elected as president of the WPC. In that capacity, she regularly took the concerns of the WPC to the Montgomery City Council. She complained of the mistreatment of Blacks with regard to City transportation.
Coincidently, a young black woman Viola Bradford was arrested in 1950 for refusing to give up her seat on the bus when directed to do so by the bus driver. She was fined $50.00 dollars and jailed until the fine was paid. Jo Ann G. Robinson regularly met with the City Council and wrote letters to the Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, William A. Gayle, concerning the mistreatment of Blacks in the community.
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court decided the case of Brown v. Board of Education at Topeka, Kansas. This case involved several cases that reached the court at the same time, but all involved the separate but equal doctrine. The court decided on one of the complaints in favor of the complainant and limited its decision to the area of