During the 1940s and 1950s there was minimal real-world progress made in civil rights, NAACP had been focused on, ironically, legal ways to fix what was wrong with the justice system, they had been focusing on court cases and demonstration. There had been some advances, e.g. the Brown case which supposed that segregated education was indeed unlawful. However although the case raised passion across America it was the Montgomery bus boycott which was a turning point for civil rights, it showed Alabama that African Americans were serious, and willing to go to great distances for their cause.
Rosa Parks was an honourable and appreciated woman, she was approachable to neighbours and believed strongly in equality. Her attitude and reputation already gave her the ethical high ground against rivals. Parks decided she did not want to give up her seat for a man and was consequently arrested, her arrest and trial sparked scandal across the black community and there was a call for action, for something uninterrupted to be done. Hence the boycott was applied. The boycott was different, earlier attempts at gaining civil rights, Civil rights leaders and groups such as NAACP had tried court action with reasonable
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However the boycott would have alarmed the white community, it threatened their livelihood, most of the people who used the buses were black, and without them the bus owners could go bankrupt. It also affected downtown trades, as they were further away from black housing African Americans were less likely to shop there. The boycott emphasized the economic influence of black people, even if whites would admit it they relied on black people for their