Montgomery+Boycott

Montgomery Boycott

[|Rosa Parks] is seen as one of the most important people involved in the Montgomery Boycott; she made a dramatic change in her community. The Montgomery Boycott was an example of, what we modern Americans, would call racism.


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The Start of the Boycott
The Montgomery Boycott refers to the event where the black community of Montgomery, Alabama refused to ride busses for one day. Or it was intended to last for only one day, it actually lasted for several months. The boycott was sparked by the woman Jo Ann Robinson ; she decided to take a stand for her people. After the community heard the voice of Robinson, they came to a compromise towards a final plan. The plan was a gamble; success would bring a great victory, but failure would cause them to never gain independence. The community and Robinson wanted a case where they could anger and inspire the blacks and, as a result, all colored people would unite and help fight for their rights. They also wanted a person that would be willing to test the segregation laws. Although there were many cases, not all of them triggered the blacks to actually take a stand up for themselves.

Notable Participants
Robinson, a highly educated woman, was employed at the all-black Alabama College. She took part in a group in Montgomery named the Women’s Political Council. The Women’s Political Council was created to help give blacks rights that they lacked;the blacks weren’t treated equally. Even though Robinson was a respected leader to her peers, not even she could escape the racial inequality. In 1949, Robinson sat down in the front of the bus; the front was intended to be for whites only and no other race was allowed to sit there. The minute she sat down, the driver halted and brought the bus to a complete stop. The driver approached Robinson, yelling at her. In tears, Robinson fled the bus. However, her pride and spirit were awakened by the incident, so she decided to take a stand for herself and all those discriminated against. Before doing anything, she tried to protest- it was a complete failure. Even so, Robinson was intent on making a difference. She wrote to W. A. Gayle; in the letter she wrote to him stating that a boycott would be held against buses. Not until December 1, 1955, when the actual boycott started. Robinson's motive was to create a situation that would awaken the rest of the black community, anger them, just as she had been. She hoped that the incident would unite all of the blacks. When she found a black person who was willing to bring their own case into court, she would tell them to use it to test the segregation laws. Together, the blacks and this plan made a difference.

Rosa Parks, and her case, is the main one of the boycott and caused the biggest upheaval. Although she is the person who is most rememberd, the image that people have of her is wrong. Usually, s he is portrayed as an exhausted women coming home from work, on the bus, who would not leave her seat when it was demanded of her. Part of this was true, but not all of it. Instead of being tired Parks refused to give up her seat to the white man because of the color of her skin. When the police arrived at the scene to arrest her she asked, “Why do you all push us around?” The police did not know how to respond to this, but they arrested her none the less. E. D. Nixon was one of the people who helped Parks with her case. Nixon wanted Parks to put her case into trial because he knew that her case could and would help break down the segregation among buses.

Conclusion and Results of the Boycott
Before the plan of Robinson's went into action, there was a huge meeting in Montgomery. The meeting was not a complete success because some of the men attending were outraged at one of the participants, Reverend L. Roy Bennett. They thought that he controlled the meeting, and didn’t let the voices of others be heard. Because of this, some them left the meeting. The ones remained decided to take the boycott in action. Among those that stayed was Martin Luther King Jr., and he came to thinking that, even if just 60 percent of blacks participated in the boycott, their plan would be accomplished. The following morning, there were no blacks seen on the buses. Amazingly, even though blacks didn’t rely on the buses any more, there was still a division of seats among the whites and the blacks. The Private Taxi Plan became fairly common among blacks. This was a plan where the blacks who owned vehicles drive those who didn’t, a carpool of sorts. Colored people liked this plan, and it became a succesful alternative. Because of this success, the whites wanted to divide them up. On January 21, 1956 the city commission and three of the non-black ministers had a meeting. After the meeting was over, the city commission released false evidence to the media saying that the blacks were giving up on the bus boycott. When the blacks heard this, they quickly told everyone that the boycott was still going on. The whites knew that they couldn’t separate blacks from one another, so they went after the Private Taxi Plan. In the process of trying to end the boycott, blacks started to purchase wagons for transportation. In regard to this, they cancelled their insurance policy for their cars. Due to these cancelations, companies were losing their profits. Many blacks were arrested by the police due to minor traffic issues. Before the crisis happened, the black community asked for equal rights for those that wanted to be bus drivers, and also to inforce the rule of "first come first served". Once again, the whites denied them of these rights. After a while, the black community asked for another favor, but this time they wanted to be completely free of segregation. On November 13, 1956 the Supreme Court ruled segregation to be unconstitutional ; this day also marked the end of the boycott.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott had a great impact in the American history; it changed history's course dramatically. Without the boycott, blacks would have never gained the equal rights and opportunities that we all see today. What this caused this event to be a main focus in American history was one black female, Rosa Parks, who was jailed for the simple act of not giving up her seat. This tragic event influenced Jo Ann Robinson to take action and fix justice, to make the unjust, just. This started the Bus Boycott and soon after led to further [|Civil Rights Movements]. It was a united act of those who sought true justice.

Justice in the nineteen fifties differed from that of today. The justice we know is equal for all ethnicities. The U.S.A. cannot be considered a just country if we are unable to explain and define justice in our own country. According to Scott Edurne, who wrote the article, "The Origin of the Word Justice" "justice is the equality of being just righteous, equitableness, or fairness; to be in just is to be fair." In fact, the word justice comes from the Latin word "justia," which means "equity." The very word shows that everyone should be treated equally judged, not by their color, but by their humanity. Rosa Parks wanted to achieve the justice that Edurne called for.

Rosa Parks was the key E.D. Nixon and Jo Ann Robinson were looking to open a door, a door of equal rights and movement towards justice. Park's incident made Robinson anxious to use her case. Robinson wanted to use Park's incident because she was a highly educated woman. Since Parks was highly educated, she would have no problems when she testified in courts. Within 10 hours after Park's arrest, Robinson printed fliers and took action towards the Boycott plan. In the flier it stated that another colored woman had been arrested due to the fact that she refused to give up her seat to a white person. This was not the first time where a colored person was arrested because of the same reasoning; indeed this has been the second incident. The case of this woman would go to trial on Monday, so Robinson would like for every colored person to cooperate with her. By cooperating with her, she meant to not ride the bus on Monday.

Robinson had been planning the boycott for a long time, but waited for the perfect test case. After she heard of Park's case, she sent out fliers and started the boycott. The Montgomery boycott lasted for 381 days, and was brought to an end because of the case Browder v. Gayle, a Federal Lawsuit against the city and the mayor of Montgomery on the behalf of four plaintiffs. Although this case left an impact on American Society, it was not successful at first. The Supreme Court rejected the case once before they finally gave in which led to the conclusion of the boycott. The case of Parks brought justice and equality to people of different ethnicities beside the whites. For instance, Park's incident made colored people become more noticeable in the "human society"; they had the rights to sit anywhere they would like to on the bus, which brought them a step closer to justice. Before this, colored people were only allowed to sit at the back; also, they weren't allowed to enter through the front door. After the paid their fee, they would have to get off the bus and reenter through the back door, there was no equality in the act. Without the involvement of a great black leader, Martin Luther King Jr., this protest would have never succeeded.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Martin Luther King also took part in the boycott. He was a well known leader who left a huge impact to his people. In becoming part of the Montgomery Boycott, he started the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a time period where colored people fought for their rights. The colored people gained a lot of independence during this time period. King was the role model that every colored person looked up to. In the Boycott, he contributed his idea of having a percentage to how many colored people they would need in order to achieve their plan. As a result of being part of the boycott, violence chased after him. Whites were furious that he helped the colored people with his intelligence- by doing this, colored people became worthy of the other people's time.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Montgomery Boycott gives black people strength and hope they never had. It made many people realize that they have the power to set everything right and not to be look upon as second class citizens. It was the start of the Civil Rights Movement that changed history. It is important not only to history, but to the people of the United States of America. Without this dramatic change, America would not be what it is today; a country of peace.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Works Cited
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Montgomery Bus Boycott: The Story of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement. Web. 17 May 2011. [].

"Civil Rights Movement 1955-1956: The Montgomery Bus Boycott. "Www.watson.org. Web. 17 May 2011. [].

"Women's Political Council (WPC). King Institute Home. Web. 17 May 2011. [].

Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers: the Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. New York: Holiday House, 2006. Print.

McClaurin, Irma, and Virginia Schomp. The Civil Rights Movement. Tarrytown: Michelle Bisson, 2008. Print.

English, Late Old. "The Origin of the World Justice: How Justice Entered the English Language l Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network. Web. 19 May 2011. []

"Browder v. Gayle, 352 U.S. 903 (1956). "King Institute Home. Web. 03 June 2011. []