...Rosa Parks and the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott HIST102 American History since 1877 The civil rights movement in the United States was a struggle against the racial discrimination and segregation the African Americans faced prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dating back nearly 100 years, when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, black people in the South had been fighting for equality from the moment they were freed from slavery. There were many events that contributed to the civil rights movement. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established in 1909. Jackie Robinson broke the color lines of Major League Baseball in 1947. In 1954 Congress overturned the Plessy vs Ferguson ruling, determining that segregated schools naturally unequal. In 1963 more than 200,000 blacks and whites marched to the nation’s capital to protest racism and hear Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed, forbidding racial discrimination in schools, employment, hotels, public transportation, etc. Following the Civil Rights Act was the Voting Rights Act in 1965, which was instrumental in the expansion of black voters. There were many more events that helped shape the development of the civil rights movement and in the following information will discuss one in particular: The 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913. She worked...
Words: 1117 - Pages: 5
... “All I was doing was trying to get home from work.” says Rosa Parks. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress from Montgomery, Alabama boarded a city bus coming home from a long day of work. She boarded the bus and sat in the colored section of the bus, as the bus filled up, Parks was demanded to give up her sit for a white men. Rosa Parks refused to obey the bus driver, James F. Blake, and was placed in custody by two police officers, F.B. Day and D.W. Mixon. The huge controversy resulted in a 381 day Montgomery Bus Boycott to show freedom and rights. Rosa Parks striked an huge impact in the Civil Rights Movement. According to an excerpt from Bayard Rustin’s Montgomery Diary, 42,000 people denied using the bus, and began either carpooling, hitchhiking, or walking to there destination. Parks was a part of the (WPC) Women’s Political Council, a group of black women that discusses the changes needed for the Montgomery city busses. The group discovered many new guidelines, but no changes were ever occurring because no one spoke out. Until May 21, 1954, Jo Ann Robinson, president of the...
Words: 828 - Pages: 4
...off the Bus: The Montgomery Bus Boycott After the Civil War, the concept of "separate but equal" was the principle that guided relations between whites and blacks. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, which outlawed discrimination against blacks in public facilities. But, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law only applied to the federal government. Many states, particularly in the South, took advantage of this ruling and denied African Americans of their rights as citizens. Prejudice and violence against African Americans was rampant in the South. In the 1950s and 1960s, these injustices led to a movement for civil rights. African Americans united to challenge the system of segregation. Many whites sympathized and joined their campaign. The Montgomery bus boycott was the first of the large-scale protests. The Montgomery bus boycott helped African Americans to protest peacefully and bring attention to their struggle; it paved the way for Martin Luther King Jr to speak for other African Americans; and a year later, it led to the Supreme Court’s ruling that it was illegal for public transportation to be segregated....
Words: 890 - Pages: 4
...Civil rights activist Rosa Parks once said, “I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” Instead of showing fear, Rosa Parks stood up for americans all over the world. Rosa Parks involvement in civil disobedience was due to personal influences. She chose to participate in civil disobedience to protest the equal rights for blacks, and she did achieve success using this controversial method of standing up for what she strongly believes to be right. Civil Disobedience is when a person or group protests a law that they find morally wrong. The person is usually peaceful and will accept whatever consequences arise due to breaking the law (Suber). People use...
Words: 954 - Pages: 4
...“Civil Rights Movement” During the 1950’s and the 1960’s, African Americans were still experiencing unequal segregation. Laws such as the Jim Crow Laws banned them from sharing bathrooms, theaters, train cars, etc. with white people. In 1954 when the “separate but equal” doctrine was enforced, it triggered the frustration of many African Americans. Civil Rights Activists began using non-violent protests and disobedience of segregation laws to try and bring about a change. This period of time is known as the Civil Rights Movement and is one of the most successful and meaningful social movements in the world. Many African American’s are remembered today as leaders who risked their lives in hope for freedom and equality during the Civil Rights Movement such as, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks and E.D Nixon. Martin Luther King Jr is known for leading many of the most significant civil rights protests. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was the youngest to have even received that honor. He is also known for leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was generated after an altercation involving Rosa Parks. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks boarded the bus after a long day at work, sitting in the first row of the colored section. As the white section of the bus filled up, the bus driver ordered the colored people in the first row to give up their seats, but Rosa Parks refused. Eventually, she was arrested for violating the Montgomery City Code. On the night of Rosa Park’s...
Words: 610 - Pages: 3
...“Assess the significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the struggle for civil rights in the USA” In the southern society pre-1955 black Americans where thought of as second class citizens. Southern states had white only restaurants, white only rest zones in bus centres, water fountains etc. in the south of America is was common that buses were segregated, with specific areas on a bus reserved for white customers and other seats for black customers. The Civil Rights Movement is often said to have started with the actions of Rosa Parks from Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who protested against Montgomery’s racially segregated buses. She protested by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to white American man, “she decided on that day she wasn’t going to move. There was no assault” , this resulted in Rosa Parks getting arrested for breaking the Montgomery Bus Segregation Laws. It was said that Rosa Parks reaction after a hard day’s work and was not pre-planned. But evidence suggest that the Bus Boycott had been a while in the planning . After Rosa Parks arrest all black Americans stayed off the buses for a total of 382 days which caused the bus company to lose 65 percent of its income leading to great economic pressure. This led to the community organising a car pool which carried many of the passengers the buses would have carried, this showed great community spirit and how powerful people working together could be. Following the...
Words: 605 - Pages: 3
...The events that occurred in Montgomery were triggered by one individual, Rosa Parks. This woman refused to give her seat to a white man, in doing so caused her arrest, but also caused the Montgomery bus Boycott, which was of massive significance to the civil rights movement. When Rosa Parks had been arrested, The NAACP and the black Alabama State College helped to free her, encouraged by others; this caused students to copy and distribute propaganda leaflets around the community, in addition, gaining total support from the black community. The NAACP believed that by involving the church, this would add to the support they need for this cause, due to this, they involved church leaders, including Dr Martin Luther King. King allowed his church to be used as a meeting place to plan the bus boycott to protest at park’s arrest, thus the church provided location and inspiration. The community agreed that King would be a good leader for the boycott as this brought king into prominence as the leader of the civil rights movement. The black community successfully boycotted on the day of Rosa Parks’ trial, demanding that the bus company should use a first come, first serve policy and that the drivers should be polite to blacks, this proposal was the rejected. The one day boycott that was first organised became a yearlong and therefore became extremely successful. The yearlong boycott became a very popular story and attracted worldwide media, which obviously caused more black communities...
Words: 661 - Pages: 3
...impacted the civil rights movement during the most volatile years that this country has ever experienced. The three people I think changed the civil rights movement for the better were Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jo Ann Gibson Robinson was a leader of a female activist group who fought to end segregation. One of her many accomplishments are that she joined a women’s group to help fight segregating laws. In addition to this, she wrote a letter to the mayor of Montgomery, Alabama. She threatened that the blacks were going to boycott the city buses if the laws were not changed. Unfortunately, the laws that were addressed in her letter were not changed and when a black woman was arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus her group was forced to boycott the public transportations buses. This boycott began December 5, 1955 and lasted over a year. For 381 days the blacks refused to ride the buses in Montgomery, using organized car pools or walking great distances instead. Some of those working for whites initially received rides to and from work by their employers, but even that assistance largely ended as whites were pressured by their neighbors to not help the blacks, thinking it would end the boycott sooner. Additionally, “Following Rosa Park’s arrest in December 1955, Robinson played a central role in the start of the protest by producing the leaflets that spread word of the boycott among the Black citizens of Montgomery“ (http://www...
Words: 1001 - Pages: 5
...Rosa Parks Biography * Occupation: Civil Rights Activist * Born: February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama * Died: October 24, 2005 in Detroit, Michigan * Best known for: Montgomery Bus Boycott Biography: Where did Rosa Parks grow up? Rosa grew up in the southern United States in Alabama. Her full name was Rosa Louise McCauley and she was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913 to Leona and James McCauley. Her mother was a teacher and her father a carpenter. She had a younger brother named Sylvester. Her parents separated while she was still young and she, with her mother and brother, went to live on her grandparent's farm in the nearby town of Pine Level. Rosa went to the local school for African-American children where her mother was a teacher. Going to School Rosa's mother wanted her to get a high school education, but this wasn't easy for an African-American girl living in Alabama in the 1920s. After finishing up elementary school at Pine Level she attended the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. Then she attended the Alabama State Teacher's College in order to try and get her high school diploma. Unfortunately, Rosa's education was cut short when her mother became very ill. Rosa left school to care for her mother. A few years later Rosa met Raymond Parks. Raymond was a successful barber who worked in Montgomery. They married a year later in 1932. Rosa worked part time jobs and went back to school, finally earning her high...
Words: 929 - Pages: 4
...Rosa Parks was born on February 4th, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Once her parents were separated, she lived with her grandparents, mother, and brother in a town just outside of Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa was homeschooled as a child and later on enrolled in an all girls school. When she was in her first year of highschool, she had to drop out in order to take care of her grandmother who was very ill. Soon after she rejoined, her mother had gotten sick and she had to drop out again. Rosa grew up at a time where segregation was enforced in almost every aspect of life. For example, only whites were allowed to take the bus as a form of transportation to school, so Rosa and many others were forced to walk. Additionally, “She narrated how she remembered...
Words: 1174 - Pages: 5
...The Montgomery bus boycott changed the way people lived and reacted to each other. The American civil rights movement began a long time ago, as early as the seventeenth century, with blacks and whites all protesting slavery together. The peak of the civil rights movement came in the 1950's starting with the successful bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama. The civil rights movement was lead by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who preached nonviolence and love for your enemy."Love your enemies, we do not mean to love them as a friend or intimate. We mean what the Greeks called agape-a disinterested love for all mankind. This love is our regulating ideal and beloved community our ultimate goal. As we struggle here in Montgomery, we are cognizant that we have cosmic companionship and that the universe bends toward justice. We are moving from the black night of segregation to the bright daybreak of joy, from the midnight of Egyptian captivity to the glittering light of Canaan freedom" explained Dr. King. In the Cradle of the Confederacy, life for the white and the colored citizens was completely segregated. Segregated schools, restaurants, public water fountains, amusement parks, and city buses were part of everyday life in Montgomery, Alabama “Every person operating a bus line should provide equal accommodations...in such a manner as to separate the white people from Negroes." On Montgomery's buses, black passengers were required by city law to sit...
Words: 3632 - Pages: 15
...whole civil rights movement? Of course, the Civil Rights was one of the most memorable and improtant acts in the U.S. history. It bought equality for all African-Americans in the United States and possiblity all over the world. This movement required several courageous leaders and many life changing events occurred in order for America to become the integrated nation that it is today. Due to the events of Martin Lurther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott all were effects of the Civil Right Act of 1964. Martin Lurther King Jr. is one of the most histroical leaders of the 1900's and still till this day his words and actions still influence people. Dr. King is widely regarded as America's pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in the world history matter of fact. He led noremous movements but one of his most famous was when he led a nonviloent movement in the late 1950's and 60's to achieve legal equality for African Americans in the United States. King used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, for example, protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals. Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Nobel Peace Prize lecture, and "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" are among the most revered orations and writings in the English Language. Rosa Parks, named "The Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement", after a memoral day that lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She...
Words: 645 - Pages: 3
...On a cold December evening in 1955,ROSA PARKS quietly incited a revolution by just sitting down. She was tired after spending the day at work as a department store seamstress. She stepped onto the bus for the ride home and sat in the fifth row the first row of the "COLORED SECTION." In Montgomery, Alabama, when a bus became full, the seats nearer the front were given to white passengers. Montgomery bus for the ride home and sat in the fifth row the first row of the "COLORED SECTION. In Montgomery, Alabama, when a bus became full, the seats nearer the front were given to white passengers. Montgomery bus driver JAMES BLAKEordered Parks and three other African Americans seated nearby to move ("Move y'all, I want those two seats,") to the back of the bus.Three riders complied; Parks did not. "Are you going to stand up?" the driver demanded. Rosa Parks looked straight at him and said: "No." Flustered, and not quite sure what to do, Blake retorted, "Well, I'm going to have you arrested." And Parks, still sitting next to the window, replied softly, "You may do that." (Rosa Park's biography by Douglas Brinkley) After Parks refused to move, she was arrested and fined $10. The chain of events triggered by her arrest changed the United States. Leading figures of the black community like Ralph David Abernathy and Martin Luther King, Jr quickly got into action against the discrimnation. The demands they made were simple: Black passengers should be treated with courtesy. Seating should...
Words: 632 - Pages: 3
...everything was Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks stood up for African Americans at a time when people were afraid to fight for their own basic rights. Through her actions, Rosa Parks changed the segregation rules between black and white people. People were not brave to fight for their rights, but Rosa Parks became one of the first African American ladies who fight for the black community and their equal rights to end segregation. Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her full name is Rosa Louic McCauley. Her parents were Leona and James McCauley. She had a brother named Sylvester. Her father left to find work when she was 2 years old and she didn't see him again for many years. Park's mother took her two children to live with her parents on a small farm in Pine Level, Alabama. Rosa Park's grandparents were slaves. Rosa parks hobby was she liked to sew (Rosa Parks Civil Right Pioner 6). During her early life, Rosa Parks started school when she was 6 years old. In 1919, white children and African American children went to different schools. White children rode the buses, but African American children had to walk. The white children who rode the bus would throw trash at African American children who had to walk. In 1924, Rosa Parks attended class at the Montgomery Industrial School. Years later, Rosa Parks left school to take care for her grandmother, so she didn't complete her education. In December 1932, Rosa Parks married Raymond Parks, who worked...
Words: 972 - Pages: 4
...Rosa Parks: Giver of Equality "Memories of our lives, of our works and deeds will continue in others." The woman who created this inspirational quote was none other than the astounding Rosa Parks. She is stereotypically remembered as a black lady who refused to give up her seat on a racist bus. This statement is only part of what Rosa accomplished; there is much more depth to her story than the common person is exposed to. Her achievements continue to impact the world today, decades after her story occurred. Rosa Parks was a powerful figure who benefitted society by engaging people in the actions of the Civil Rights Movement, inspiring others to stand up for what they believe in, and providing a positive example for women of color to follow....
Words: 1130 - Pages: 5
