How far was peaceful protest responsible for the success of the civil rights movement in the years 1955-64?
Peaceful protesting was a method used excessively between the period of 1955-64 (and prior to this) during the civil rights movement. It was used to bring about a “de jure” (legal change) and “de facto” (practical change) change for the rights of black Americans. Peaceful protesting was used as a means of theoretically “fighting” against unjust laws following the ideals of civil disobedience. This precise method was used by civil rights activist Martin Luther king and many others. Peaceful protesting was quite successful for the success of the civil rights movement.
The first civil step between the periods of 1955-64 was protesting against the desegregation of transport, in particular buses. The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56) was the step for the civil rights movement (on transport for this period) carried out by Rosa Parks. This protest was significant as it was the first recognised time (recognised by the NAACP) that a Black American on transport had stood up for their rights. Additionally, this factor helped the growth of Martin Luther King’s leadership, he created the MIA. (Montgomery Improvement Association) This organisation was created to undergo numerous bus boycotts and lead to over 85% of Montgomery’s black community being involved in the Boycotts. This peaceful protest was quite successful as the boycotts carried on for a year, using car pooling, and lead to bus companies losing their profits. However, the protest wasn’t as successful as King and around 156 other protestors were arrested for carrying out the boycotts. The Greensboro Sit-ins (1960) however, followed protesting against public places. The idea was for students to sit in white restaurants and not leave until served. This was quite successful as after only four days had the number of protestors gone from four students to 300. Furthermore, the