Montgomery Bus Boycott

(noun)

A legal and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama lasting from December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, until December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect, leading to the United States Supreme Court decision declaring segregated busing in Alabama and Montgomery unconstitutional.

Related Terms

Examples of Montgomery Bus Boycott in the following topics:

  • Montgomery and Protests

    • The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
    • The Montgomery Bus Boycott, a seminal episode in the U.S. civil rights movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
    • The protest that arose around the Taylor case was the first instance of a nationwide civil rights protest, and it laid the groundwork for the Montgomery bus boycott.
    • The Montgomery Bus Boycott resounded far beyond the desegregation of public buses.
    • Describe the roles of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other protesters in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

  • Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement

    • Board of Education decision in 1954, civil rights organization broadened their strategy to emphasize "direct action"—primarily boycotts, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, marches and similar tactics that relied on mass mobilization, nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.
    • Key events in the Civil Rights Movement included: the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956), which began when Rosa Parks, a NAACP secretary, was arrested when she refused to cede her public bus seat to a white passenger; the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School (1957); the Selma to Montgomery marches, also known as Bloody Sunday and the two marches that followed, were marches and protests held in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement which sought to secure voting rights for African-Americans.
    • All three were attempts to march from Selma to Montgomery where the Alabama capitol is located.
    • The student sit-ins protesting segregated lunch counters (1960); the Freedom Rides (1961) in which activists attempted to integrate bus terminals, restrooms, and water fountains; voter registration drives; and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), in which civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

  • The Emergence of the Civil Rights Movement

    • Forms of protest or civil disobedience included boycotts such as the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama; "sit-ins" such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins; marches, such as the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama or the march on Washington as well as a wide range of other nonviolent activities .
    • The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
    • Gayle, took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional.
    • Many important figures in the Civil Rights Movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy.
    • The three Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 were part of the voting rights movement underway in Selma, Alabama.

  • The Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement

    • Board of Education in 1954; Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955-1956; and the desegregation of Little Rock in 1957) expanded into other forms of protest in the 1960s.
    • Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the glacial pace of progress throughout the country was frustrating if not intolerable.

  • Martin Luther King, Jr.

    • In 1954, he became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and a year later, received his Ph.D. degree in systematic theology at Boston University.
    • King's first involvement in the Civil Rights Movement that attracted national attention was his leadership over the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.

  • Conclusion: WWII and the U.S.

    • Board of Education of Topeka (1954) and other critical cases led to a shift in tactics, and from 1955 to 1965, "direct action" was the strategy—primarily bus boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides, and social movements.
    • Sheriff Jim Clarkof Dallas County, Alabama, loosed his deputies during the "Bloody Sunday" event of the Selma to Montgomery march, injuring many of the marchers and personally menacing other protesters.

  • Conclusion: Post-War America

    • Board of Education of Topeka (1954) and other critical cases led to a shift in tactics, and from 1955 to 1965, "direct action" was the strategy—primarily bus boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides, and social movements. 
    • Sheriff Jim Clarkof Dallas County, Alabama, loosed his deputies during the "Bloody Sunday" event of the Selma to Montgomery march, injuring many of the marchers and personally menacing other protesters.

  • Women of the Civil Rights Movement

    • On August 31 of 1962, Hamer traveled on a rented bus with other activists to Indianola, Mississippi, to register to vote.
    • Liuzzo participated as a white ally in the successful Selma to Montgomery marches and helped with coordination and logistics.
    • Driving back from a trip shuttling fellow activists to the Montgomery airport, she was shot dead by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
    • In addition to other honors, Liuzzo's name is today inscribed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama created by Maya Lin.

  • Sit-Ins and Freedom Rides

    • The intent of the African American and white volunteers who undertook these bus rides south was to test enforcement of a U.S.
    • The second group continued to Birmingham, where the riders were attacked by the Ku Klux Klan as they attempted to disembark at the city bus station.
    • Freedom rides were stopped and beaten by mobs in Montgomery, leading to the dispatch of the Alabama National Guard to stop the violence.
    • The remaining activists continued to Mississippi, where they were arrested when they attempted to desegregate the waiting rooms in the Jackson bus terminal.
    • On March 7, 1965, Hosea Williams of the SCLC and John Lewis of SNCC led a march of 600 people to walk from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery.

  • The Role of Religion in the Civil Rights Movement

    • SCLC's advocacy of boycotts and other forms of nonviolent protest was controversial.
    • Many of these traditional leaders were uneasy at involving ordinary African Americans in mass activity such as boycotts and marches.
    • In response, on March 7 close to 600 protesters attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery to present their grievances to Governor Wallace.
    • After many more protests, arrests, and legal maneuvering, a Federal judge ordered Alabama to allow the march to Montgomery.
    • It began on March 21 and arrived in Montgomery on the 24th.