...The Montgomery Bus Boycott ’’Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent’’ Martin Luther King All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1. of the (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights) The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially started on December 1, 1955. That was the day when the blacks of Montgomery, Alabama, decided that they would boycott the city buses until they could sit anywhere they wanted, instead of being relegated to the back when a white boarded. 1.) http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/montbus.html The story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is often told as a simple, happy tale of the "little people" triumphing over the seemingly/apparently unbeatable forces of evil. The truth is a little bit different and a little more complex. "The movement started on the day in 1943 when a black seamstress named Rosa Parks paid her bus fare and then watched the bus drive off as she tried to re-enter through the rear door, as the driver had told her to do. When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, "Why do you push us around?" She remembered him saying, "I don't know,...
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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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...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...
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...Did you know Rosa Parks was one of the first woman to ever refuse to give up her bus seat? She was part of the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. She was a brave woman who just wanted freedom for herself and all African Americans. December1,1955 rosa parks would refuse to give up her seat.the same day rosa went to jail for standing up for herself what she believed in. Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Rosa Parks father was not in much of her life the time she was two she never saw him .Parks grandfather was like her father for most of her life. When Rosa Parks was sixteen she had to leave school because her grandmother was very sick. Just a few months later Parks mother was sick so Rosa Parks still was...
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...Rosa Parks is a black middle aged woman who refused to give up her set to a white man, because she was tired after a long day at work. She was working as a seamstress in Alabama. She was married to Raymond Parks and had a younger brother named Sylvester. What she did will inspire women and men alike for centuries after she dies. “ I felt just resigned to give up what i could to protect against the way i was being treated.” (“Rosa Parks”1) On Dec. 1, 1955 Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man on the bus. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956). During the boycott the black community of Montgomery didn't ride local buses for more than a year(“Rosa Parks”1). Rosa Parks, like many others, was a fighter in her...
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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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...There is no key individual or organisation that has not been exaggerated to some extent. The success of the Montgomery bus boycott was due to a combination of organisations and key individuals. So to say the success was by one person or organisation would be dismissing the roles and significance of the other factors. These factors range from the role of organisations such as the NAACP to individuals such as Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King’s role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott was being a leader. The setting up of the NACCP in 1909 illustrates that rising social tensions regarding the advancement of coloured people in the sense of state endorsed racial discrimination, and public segregation had been exhausted for over half a century. This suggests, if the desire to protest didn't exist then the boycott would never have succeeded regardless of King's existence and efforts, as stated by King “There comes a time when time itself is ready for change.” So the success of the Montgomery bus boycott depended on how strong the black communities desire to keep on protesting and was not just a single man regulating them. Since desires to protest were already implemented before King’s existence, it would only be natural to exaggerate the role of ‘the single man that made it happen.’ In 1913 the NACCP showed that it could organize a respectable opposition against government policy such as the Jim Crow laws; over a decade before King was even born. As King stated “I just happened to be here”...
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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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...eventually led the Harlem Bus Boycott of 1941. At the time major and coach companies refused to hire black employees as either mechanics or bus drivers, due to company policy. The Harlem Bus Boycott of 1941 fought for greater employment opportunities for Blacks. During that time, major and Coach companies refused to employ black workers as bus drivers and mechanics. This exclusion of blacks was apart of their policy.. Between the Fifth Avenue Coach Company and the New York Omnibus Corporation there were only sixteen black employees and most were janitors. The Harlem Bus Boycott was led by Adam Clayton Powell. Powell was the leader of the Greater New York Coordinating Committee for Employment. His organization joined with the...
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...known for a speech he gave on the steps of Washington D.C.’s Lincoln memorial in 1963 entitles “I Have a Dream …” at the “March on Washington”. Section 1 (a) Montgomery Bus Boycott In the city of Montgomery Alabama 1955, it would not be surprising to see buses segregated by race; in fact city law to enforce it. When entering buses whites entered and sat at the front filling towards the rear, blacks entered and sat at the rear filling toward the front. If there were no more seats the next black person onto the bus was to stand, when the next white person got on the closest row of black people to the front were required to stand (Clayborne 224). The boycott began after a number of black women had been arrested for not vacating seats, the most recent before the boycott being Mrs. Rosa Parks (Phibbs). The boycott was organized and led by a number of now prominent civil rights activists along with Martin Luther King Jr., including but limited to: Ralph Abernathy, a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement and an officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Jo Ann Robinson, a Montgomery educator and civil rights activist, Robinson was instrumental in promoting awareness of the boycott (Hine 69-70); Claudette Colvin was the first women arrested for challenging bus segregation in Montgomery nine months before Rosa Parks, and is heralded as a pioneer of...
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...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 for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took on the “separate but equal” provision in the case. Thurgood Marshall was selected to represent the Brown...
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...The boycott began December 5, 1955 when 42 year old Rosa Parks stayed in her seat on a Montgomery bus. She then was taken to her local jail and sentenced but later released due to her associate. “On the evening of December 1, 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person and was arrested. E. D. Nixon, one of the local leaders of the NAACP, arranged for Clifford Durr, a white lawyer, to go with him to the city jail and arrange bail for Mrs. Parks. Durr and Nixon then decided to use the case against Mrs. Parks to challenge the constitutionality of the Alabama state law requiring segregation on public transportation.” (Baron, Robert C. paragraph 2). After this occurrence black Americans everywhere were protesting the bus system by completely avoiding them; Therefore leaving the public transportation business at a major loss of money for their main customer was the average black person. African Americans throughout the country were finding new ways to get where they needed to be, many walked up to 13 miles in order to avoid riding the bus. Roughly a year later the US supreme court ruled that bus segregation was unjust and therefore unconstitutional. As a result African Americans felt justified in their right to use modes of public transportation and feel safe while...
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...Environmental or Physical Geographic Factors Geography and the Development/Diffusion of Human Society THE TIBER RIVER This river is the 3rd longest river in Italy and flows through the city of Rome and is 252 miles through Umbria and Lazio, where it is joined by Aniene river and Tyrrhenian Sea. Rome was founded on the banks of Tiber, 16 miles from the sea at Ostia (Tiber River, 2015). In Rome, the Tiber river was very important to its trade and commerce, where their ships were able to reach as far as 60 miles upriver. This was also used to send grain, stone, timber, and foodstuff to Rome. THE TIBER RIVER During the Punic Wars, the harbor at Ostia became a naval base and eventually became its most important port where they ship wheat, wine, and oil around the Mediterranean. Romans also built wharves along the riverside which lines the riverbanks around the Campus Martius. They also connected the Tiber river with a sewer system and tunnels to send water to the mid-city (Tiber River, 2015). The river’s heavy sedimentation made it tough to maintain at that time, so the emperors had to create a new port on the Fiumicino. They built a new road to connect Rome with Fiumicino. THE TIBER RIVER The navigation on the Tiber river was improved with extensive dredging which boosted the trade for a while, however, eventually it resulted to silting in the river and was only navigable as far as Rome (Tiber River, 2015). The river was also popular...
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...in an ice chest. We would tell my grandfather, parents, and siblings goodbye. Although the ride was long, my grandmother would talk about the adventure we were about to take. My cousin Angela and I couldn’t wait to leave Los Angeles, California and head to Montgomery, Alabama. I loved going to the south to visit my family especially my cousins. Half way between our destination, we would spend a couple of days at my great-aunt's home in Houston to rest and replenish our treat chest as my grandmother would call it. When we arrived at my aunt’s home in Montgomery, I felt different but did not know why. When we came to visit family members showed up from other towns in Alabama and Georgia to see us. Everyone in my family ran their own business even the women. My Uncle Richard was a registered pharmacist who owned a pharmacy in the Black business district. My Aunt Ethel had her own business she was a tailor and also did upholstery. Uncle Jack and Aunt Francis owned a construction company. Another relative named Romie ran a family owned a grocery store. Little did I know, all these people had a hand in changing American history? Aunt Georgia would serve meals to the church’s and people participating in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. While all the other children played, I found myself staying in the house with the older women. I helped with the cooking and cleaning. I listened one night as my aunts were asking my grandmother who was going to be the one amongst her immediate family to...
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