Rosa Parks' Bus . In 1955, African Americans were still required by a Montgomery, Alabama, city ordinance to sit in the back half of city buses and to yield their seats to white riders if the Before the bus boycott, Jim Crow laws mandated the racial segregation of the Montgomery Bus Line. As a result of this segregation, African Americans were not hired as drivers, were forced to ride in the back of the bus, and were frequently ordered to surrender their seats to white people even though black passengers made up 75% of the bus system's riders. [2] Montgomery bus boycott, mass protest against the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, by civil rights activists and their supporters that led to a 1956 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery’s segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional. The boycott was led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. Her actions Rosa Parks launched the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. The boycott proved to be one of the pivotal moments of the emerging civil rights movement. For 13 months, starting in December 1955, the black citizens of Montgomery protested nonviolently with the goal of desegregating the city’s public buses. Rosa Parks's Symbolic Bus Ride, 1956 Made famous by Rosa Parks's refusal to give her seat to a white man, the Montgomery bus boycott was one of the defining events of the civil rights movement. Beginning in 1955, the 13-month nonviolent protest by the black citizens of Montgomery to desegregate the city's public bus system, Montgomery City Lines. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Freedom Rides; Around 90 leading figures of the boycott, including Rosa Parks and Dr King were arrested. Many only avoided prison by paying fines. Churches On March 2, 1955, a black teenager named Claudette Colvin dared to defy bus segregation laws and was forcibly removed from another Montgomery bus. Nine months later, Rosa Parks - a 42-year-old seamstress and NAACP member- wanted a guaranteed seat on the bus for her ride home after working as a seamstress in a Montgomery department store. Montgomery bus driver James Blake ordered 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. The following excerpt of what happened next is from Douglas Brinkley's 2000 Rosa Park's biography. Rosa Parks Statue of Rosa Parks seated on a Montgomery bus; at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, Alabama. (more) In December 1955 NAACP activist Rosa Parks ’s impromptu refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery , Alabama , sparked a sustained bus boycott that inspired mass protests elsewhere to speed Alabama was the site of many key events in the American civil rights movement. Rosa Parks's stand against segregation on a public bus led to the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the violence targeted toward the Freedom Riders of the early 1960s drew the nation's attention to racial hatred in Alabama. In Stride Toward Freedom, King’s 1958 memoir of the boycott, he declared the real meaning of the Montgomery bus boycott to be the power of a growing self-respect to animate the struggle for civil rights. The roots of the bus boycott began years before the arrest of Rosa Parks. Introduction. On December 1, 1955, a tired Rosa Parks left work as a department store tailor’s assistant and planned to ride home on a city bus. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like How many African Americans boycotted the Montgomery bus system the first day?, Who called for the Montgomery Bus Boycott after he heard about the arrest of Rosa Parks?, The 13 "Freedom Riders" were part of what group? and more. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks made a stand by not giving up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery. This led to her arrest and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott was a key moment in the fight for civil rights in America. African Americans in Montgomery didn't ride Beginning on December 1, 1955, black citizens staged a year-long, city-wide bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Similarly, a seven-month boycott of Tallahassee, Florida’s city buses began in May, 1956, after two young black women were charged with “inciting Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked a pivotal moment in American civil rights history.Her act of defiance against racial segregation laws ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became a catalyst for the broader civil rights movement. Civil-rights activist E.D. Nixon was looking for the best person to be the standard-bearer in a constitutional challenge to the segregated bus system of Montgomery, Ala. Though several others had been confronted or arrested on the buses, Rosa Parks was the perfect choice. Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955-1956 Is often considered the start point of the African American Civil Rights Movement. The boycott was the first community action that brought nationwide attention to the civil rights struggle, and was the first sustained, large scale, community-wide protest by African Americans in a Southern city. Montgomery Bus Boycott: Mighty Times Teacher Guide and DVD “The Legacy of Rosa Parks” Activity Sheets: Montgomery Bus Boycott – Primary Source Activity Rosa Parks Changed the Rules How much does it cost to Ride the bus? Books: Get on the Bus (Cobblestones) - 5 Rosa’s Bus “The Ride to Civil Rights” Birmingham Children’s Crusade:
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