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The Montgomery Bus Boycott: The Civil Rights Movement

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The Civil Rights movement occurred at a turbulent time in American history. The Cold War and the search for communists had the government’s attention, forcing civil rights activists to change their tactics. The ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, making segregation in public schools unconstitutional, was met with massive resistance. Civil rights leaders took action calling for nonviolent protests to push for civil rights legislation while facing the threat of violent retaliation for their efforts. Leaders of the civil rights movement used civil disobedience as a form of peaceful protest. This civil disobedience took many forms throughout the movement, such as boycotts, sit-ins, and marches. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized by the …show more content…

A. Phillip Randolph’s March on Washington on August 28, 1963, gathered 250,000 people, both white and black, in Washington, D.C., to speak out for stronger civil rights legislation, and to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. While this protest was met with peace, the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama on March 7, 1965, was met with violent resistance. During the march, protesters, calling for equal voting rights, were attacked by state police. This attack caused the government to act after it was broadcast on television (Foner 985). This violence was seen across the country, as well as around the world, making it something that could no longer be …show more content…

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal for employers and public businesses to discriminate based on race or sex. Noting the lack of popularity of the law with whites, President Johnson believed the law’s passing may have “delivered the South to the Republican Party” (Foner 982). The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which enforced the right for every American citizen to vote, was passed in response to the attack on protesters marching in Selma, Alabama. This ensured that African-Americans would be able to have a say in elections and vote for people that would represent them. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed, allowing all American citizens to own or rent a home without

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In Montgomery there was a bus boycott that lasted thirteen months there. It was lead by Martin Luther King Jr. What lead up to the boycott starting was Rosa Parks being arrested. Nobody rode the buses but instead they walked even in the pouring rain, carpooled all over town and used taxis.

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The 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was a success in bringing equality among the racial segregation within buses and bus stations. One day in 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving when she was told to, which led to the call of boycotting against buses. Afterwards, African Americans gathered together and made a stance in refusing to ride buses as a protest against the unfair treatments they have endured on the buses (Document 2). Despite breaking black discriminating laws, they followed a nonviolent approach during their protest, which developed a progress toward equality. In addition, many blacks decided to avoid buses overall by finding different methods of transportation after the police started harassing the black taxi drivers.

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The Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful, because of all the dedication, and the influential power the African American community had over the movement. One major reason African Americans refuse to ride any public bus. Black citizens refused to ride the buses in the protest over the bus system’s policy of racial segregation. This was sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955. Park refused to give up her bus seat to a white man.

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The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a successful movement in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. The protest was huge protest movement against racial segregation on the public transportation system in Montgomery, Alabama. Throughout the Civil Rights Movement African Americans fought to put an end to segregation and discrimination. They conducted peaceful, non-violent protests in attempt to reach their goal of ending segregation and discrimination. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of the most effective peaceful protests during the Civil Rights Movement.

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The 1960-70’s was the height of the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans were dedicated to gaining liberties which only whites could exercise freely, and did this was done through peaceful as well as violent means of protest. Individuals such as Martin Luther King protested by means of preaching peace and utilizing nonviolent actions against whites while others such as Malcolm x and elijah muhammad resorted to not only violence, yet separatism to protest and show their urge to gain civil Liberties. Though, both methods of protest were aimed towards the same goal, only one was to be influential and bring about the change that African Americans desire.

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In March of 1965, thousands of Americans black and white began the 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery. All the men and women of the crowd had the same agenda of protesting in favor of Black Civil Rights, but along the way encountered state police who proceeded to brutally beat the crowd on national television1. As news of this horrific event spread through the screens and radios of America President Lyndon B. Johnson stood by creating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ensure that every American regardless of Race or Gender could legally and without confliction have the right to vote. Shortly thereafter on March 15, 1965 Johnson took to the podium and in front of cabinet members and foreign ambassadors proceeded to deliver the speech

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Looking back at our American history when we mention the Montgomery bus boycott the first persons we think of is Marin Luther King and Rosa Parks. But in reality there was so many people behind the scenes involved, that made this movement possible. There were competent educators, supervisors, principles, teachers, social workers, other community workers, nurse’s women employees, and members of the Women’s Political Council which made a great impact to the Montgomery Boycott. In 1946, the Women’s Political Council (WPC) was founded nine years before the boycott began, by Dr. Mary Fair.

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Civil rights also had many strong leaders that helped grow the movement, most notably, Martin Luther King Jr whose message was the spread of non-violence and peaceful protests. Most of these groups adopted the tactics of nonviolent protests, boycotts, and sit-ins. One example we saw in class was the Greensboro sit-in (Image, slide 4,week 14 PPT). This was a non-violent protest in Greensboro North Carolina where 4 young black college students stayed in the building for months until there was change.

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I think the nonviolence used by civil rights activists was a good tactic because it demonstrated how powerful African Americans were because they knew that violence was not the answer. The Montgomery Bus Boycott proved how Africans Americans used their actions in a peaceful way rather than in a violent way. The Sit ins allowed for people to see how Africans Americans were treated with the help of having television coverage in order for African Americans to gain sympathy. The most important thing it showed was how united Africans Americans were and more African Americans began to join the movement. 2.

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Roots of Civil Rights Movement in Alabama The Civil Rights Movement in Alabama began with a single act of civil disobedience by Rosa Park in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. The civil disobedience was not the only thing that happens to started Civil Right Movement. But the civil disobedience was the one main thing to help change how we live now. During the intervening years, Alabama was the site of some of the defining events of the civil right era.

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On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people marched to support freedom. They marched up and down Constitution and Independence avenues in Washington D.C. before the long awaited speech. They wanted to listen to the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had, and they wanted to be the people to make that dream real. The March on Washington was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement, including the “I Have a Dream” speech. The effects of this event can still be seen today, and have changed how our nation has developed.

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The civil rights movement was a non-violent protest to renew black rights. Great Leaders fought in peace with people without using their fists. History.com states, “Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence.” First, racial segregation in the South made it hard for African Americans to live and or do much of anything in white communities. In 1955 racial segregation continued in the Southern region of America.

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1970-1990 One event from this time period that I would have liked to witness would probably have been when Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. This would have been something I would have enjoyed to witness because as a female myself I would have seen this as very empowering and a huge step towards change. In additional to that I feel like something like that to happen was long overdue because women had been fighting for so long to be equal to men and this was one of the first true steps in doing so. 1900 to Present Day Because this is a time period that I have lived through I feel as though there are many things and topics that I could discuss however, I’ve chosen to highlight why I would have wanted to know

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The activist involved were Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and others. It included nonviolent acts and certain acts to target disobedience. August of 1963, 250,000 people went to Washington to march for freedom, “Led by King, millions of blacks took the streets for peaceful protest as well as acts against disobedience and economic boycotts” (Simkins). Because of this movement expanded across the world, it caused people to unite as one for what they thought was right. A few months before another group boycotted on a public bus, ending in

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Unbenounced to her, Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat to a white man ignited one of the largest and most successful mass movements in opposition to racial segregation in history. At a time when African Americans experienced racial discrimination from the law and within their own communities on a daily basis, they saw a need for radical change and the Montgomery bus boycott helped push them closer to achieving this goal. Unfortunately, much of black history is already excluded from textbooks, therefore to exclude an event as revolutionary to the civil rights movement as this one would be depriving individuals of necessary knowledge. The Montgomery bus boycott, without a doubt, should be included in the new textbook because politically

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