...Getting 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....
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...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...
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...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...
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...“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...
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...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...
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...How significant was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in advancing the civil rights movement? The Montgomery bus boycott of December 1955 influenced a continuous boycott that inspired many individuals and groups to stand up against public transport segregation in order to quicken the pace, and also the likelihood of bus boycotts having a strong impact on the advancement of the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks was the main culprit behind the boycott as it was her decision to refuse to move seats after requested by the driver several times. However, as she evidently declined, it created an uproar of boycotts, and others began to see how blatant discrimination and racism against black Americans was becoming too extreme, and in some cases unnecessary. Following this, the appointment of Martin Luther King, Jr. to be the head of the Montgomery Improvement Association helped the boycott last for almost an entire year; the success shown by the supreme court order to desegregate buses. The Montgomery bus boycott is a very significant piece of history regarding the advancement the civil rights movement, and rightly so because it acted as the paving stone for further boycotts and other methods of protest, such as sit-ins and freedom rides. As the boycott was very successful, and raised a lot of public awareness surrounding the reality of racism and segregation; It encouraged other people (black and white) to stand up for what they believe in, and fight against the increased levels of segregation...
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...“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...
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...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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...government’s skirted around laws and policies to keep the African Americans in their “rightful place” which was beneath anyone white. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott set into motion the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement that would inspire the African American people to take a stand and fight for change. On December 1st, 1955, a black women by the name of Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama (Tindall & Shi, pg. 1277). Montgomery law stated that African Americans could not sit in the first ten rows of a public bus even if there were no whites riding at the time (Tindall & Shi, pg. 1277). Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the eleventh row to a white man, and because of this she was arrested and given a court date (SI: Civil Rights Movement). When Parks was asked why she would not give up her seat, she simply stated that she was “tired of giving in” to white racism...
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...There are many different but significant events that occurred throughout 1945-1962 that had to do with improving civil rights for African American people. What I meant by significant event is an event that events that were sufficiently great or were important and created pathways for change to occur. Back in these time black African American were being treated as second class citizens and where seen as ‘separate but not equal’. However there were events that changed these views such as the Brown Vs Topeka Board of education, The Little rock high school case, the James Meredith Case and also the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 that sprung into action after one several people began to stand up to the unequal laws that had been set. One event that...
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...The Montgomery bus boycott was a 381 day protest against the Jim Crow segregation laws that existed in the southern states of the US during the 50s and 60s. It involved the ordinary black people of Montgomery and was the first time that ordinary black people took part in the challenge to discrimination against black Americans. The NAACP (National Association for the advancement of coloured people) and CORE (Congress of racial equality) worked away quietly for many years beforehand fighting in long court battles to end segregation but the Montgomery protest, although fought in courts, was massively supported on the streets. Jo Ann Robinson of the Women’s League and E.D Nixon of the NAACP set up the MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association) which not only organised and lead the boycott of the buses but continued with peaceful protests despite harassment form white racists. Support increased as people approved of the non-violence in the protests. The MIA was of great pride across the US and the popular public opinion expressed on the streets was of great inspiration to black people who then went out and organised themselves in the towns and cities like that of Montgomery which launched the modern civil rights movement. The black churches and religious leaders gathered from across the southern states and formed the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) to fight for civil rights for blacks by means of marches, demonstrations and boycotts. The black churches and leaders...
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...Civil Rights Essay There has been many important times in America, some more important than to others. But like the Civil Right Movement was one of the most important because it for equality for all people. But since slavery colored people had been considered lower than the white people. So tension between these races kept happening. Inequality was still happening around the U.S. and colored people had felt like they had enough of this unfairness, so the Civil Rights Movement act during the 1600’s , and many events happened during this era. The Civil Rights Movement began in the 1600’s, it had all started because of a brave colored women named Rosa Parks. She felt like it was enough of inequality, so she refused to give up her seat only for later to be arrested and it started the bus boycott. And for that act it became known as “African American Civil Rights activist, whom the United States Congress called “ The first lady of the civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement.” Rosa and Martin luther later began the nonviolent movement. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks both began the nonviolent movements, one of those movements was the bus boycott, it was called the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This was when “Africans Americans refused to ride the city buses in Montgomery,Alabama, to segregated seating.” This happened from December 5, 1955 to...
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...the United States, equality was slowly developed as a result of people’s effort. Starting in the 1950s, series of events raised Americans’ attention to the problem of race relation, these events finally led to achievements of the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a series of political movements to pursue equal rights and opportunity for the U.S. citizens. Civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks had contributed to the Civil Right Movement. In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Black leaders in Montgomery organized the Montgomery Improvement Association and selected Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to be the leader. In 1955, Martin Luther King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, African-Americans stopped riding the buses, and the bus company started losing money. During the 381 days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed. On June 4th 1956, the court invalidated the Montgomery bus segregation law in the case Browder v. Gayle (1956). Although the state appealed the decision, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the district court on November 13, 1956. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a significant milestone of the Civil Rights Movements, which ended the racial segregation laws for buses. In the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the establishment of separate public schools for black and white students became unconstitutional. The National Association...
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