Civil Rights Movement And Montgomery Bus Boycott
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott was the turning point in the Civil Rights Movement in the US. The refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat in the bus and her subsequent arrest led to a cascade of events that finally ended segregation in Montgomery, Alabama.
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After the arrest of Rosa Parks in December 1955, some prominent civil rights activists came together to talk about a boycott. This included likes of Jo Ann Robinson, E D Nixon and the Martin Luther King, Jr. These activists urged the African Americans not to use buses the following day and this one-day boycott proved to be extremely successful. One could see just empty buses moving in Montgomery. Seeing the success of the boycott, the activists formed a group known as Montgomery Improvement Association and young Martin Luther King, Jr. was elected as the president. The group decided to continue the boycott, and as a result it lasted for over a year.
Steps were taken to break the boycott. First, non-violent methods were used. When African American taxi drivers started charging other African American passengers less than the stipulated ten-cent fare, the city officials proclaimed that the taxis that did this would be stopped from operating. In addition, insurance companies started canceling the insurance coverage of cars that were part of the carpooling scheme. King was arrested many times for small traffic offenses. When the non-violent methods did not work, the people resorted to violent methods like bombing homes of African Americans, the Ku Klux Klan marching in the street to protest against the boycott and shooting King's home.
This bus boycott started having an adverse effect on the economics of the city and finally the case reached the US Supreme Court. The court deemed that the segregation in the city was illegal and passed orders to have full integration. Finally, in December 1956, the Montgomery Bus Boycott ended. This boycott was first important event where the general public was involved in the civil rights movement and it also saw the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The effects of Montgomery Bus Boycott were far reaching, beyond the borders of Montgomery, Alabama. The arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger was just what E D Nixon had been waiting for in order to challenge the segregation in public transportation in the city.