Preview

Martin Luther King Junior's Speech Ending The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
300 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Martin Luther King Junior's Speech Ending The Montgomery Bus Boycott
In Martin Luther King Junior’s “Speech Ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott”, he describes the actions and protest that the citizens of Montgomery participated to create the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott began when Rosa Parks sat in the front of a bus after a long day of work and was ordered to yield her seat to a white citizen. She respectfully refused and was then arrested do to the unjust laws about segregation on public transportation. In response to her arrest, citizens of the black community assembled under Martin Luther King Jr.’s direction and boycotted the public bus systems for a little over a year. These citizens fought for equality and justice and refused to back down. This speech is a reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. She was charged, convicted and fined for breaking segregation laws. In response, Martin Luther King, Jr led the black community in a protest by boycotting busses. More than 50,000 members of the black community stepped up. The boycott lasted 381 days. On December 21, 1956, King’s actions resulted in the Supreme Court changing the law, ending segregation. To celebrate this hard earned victory, that very day, Martin Luther King, Jr. took a ride on a bus. He sat near the front, next to a white man (Sohail, 2005).…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article "The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Fall of the Montgomery City Lines," written by Felicia McGhee, McGhee writes the life of the racial segregation of the bus system and the effect of the boycott. On December 1, 1955, forty-two years old Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man after a long day of work. When the bus driver asked her and three other blacks to move to the back, Parks refused giving an explanation to why she said, "My feet were not tired but I was tired-tired of unfair treatment." (McGhee 254). Her actions violated the bus segregation laws and she was subsequently arrested for disorderly conduct. In the year before Rosa Park's arrest, two teenagers, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith were also arrested for similar actions (McGhee 253). Blacks were outraged by the arrest of yet another black women on a city bus. Provoked by Park's arrest, the Montgomery's black residents initiated a 381-day boycott of the bus system. The boycott was disastrous for the Montgomery City Lines, costing the company $750,000. The residents were "boycotting a system of oppression, segregation, prescribed by the State of Alabama and the Montgomery City Council" (McGhee 252). The boycott ended on December 20, 1956 only ended after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the city’s segregated bus system was unconstitutional (McGhee 252). This ties to Camus standards of the moment of rebellion is when the rebel "finds his voice" and feels that enough is enough, the rebel will stand up for himself/herself (14). The Montgomery black residents were tired of the unfair treatment of the bus segregation laws that they decided to stand up for themselves, they organized a boycott and in the end, they were able to succeed and end the bus segregation laws. But the Montgomery Bus Boycott also meets Clark et al…

    • 1626 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The protest united a vast group of African Americans who were passionate in combating racial discrimination and inequality. In fact, the demonstration was one of the first large scale ones, and as mentioned in a letter by Virginia Durr, it was “the first time that a whole [black] community [had] ever stuck together this way and for so long” (Document D). In addition, the larger assistance aided in lessening the consequences of not taking the buses. 42,000 African Americans did not use the public transport for two months but found alternatives and help from the drivers willing to carpool (Document C). What was vital in making the Montgomery Bus Boycott successful was it being a peaceful demonstration. From the start, the boycott urged participating African Americans to not resort to any act of violence. As said by Martin Luther King, Jr., “democracy [gave them the] right to [peacefully] protest” and even though they would inevitably face trials, they must endure and remain determined (Document…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plessy V Ferguson Essay

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This women was tired she had worked all day and felt she had every right to that set, and she was right. When Dr. King heard about Rosa Parks standing up for her rights and was jailed for that he knew he had to act, so he went to Montgomery Alabama and demand justice for Rosa Parks. The city council denied his request. Dr. King left with no other choice gathered the black people of Montgomery and did something that had never been done before by the black people before. Dr. King decided they should boycott the bus transit system, until the segregation on the bus ended, and jobs were offered to black men as drivers for routes where black people lived. Dr. King had the church get involved with the boycott, by organizing carpool time and pick/drop off locations. The city of Montgomery took notice to this, and decided to place a ban on people for loitering, even though they were only waiting for their ride. In 1956 the city of Montgomery had Dr. King indicted on for violating antiboycott laws. King was found guilty of leading an illegal boycott and sentenced to $500 fine and 386 days in jail. In November 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court declares bus segregation laws…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After Rosa Parks arrest Martin Luther King and other African American leaders planned to protest. In fact they planned to boycott the bus companies by not riding them. Her dream to see racial harmony was about to commence. “On the morning of the December 5th the African American residents of the city refused to use the buses.” In fact…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This essay is to compare the experiences, actions and beliefs of both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and whether their early life had influence upon the actions to be taken by them in later life. Segregation is the separation of people into different racial groups. This applies to many public services and daily places such as laundrettes, restaurants, shops, schools, housing, transport and near enough every other thing imaginable. Transport brings us to the topic of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955. This was a bus strike in Montgomery, Alabama. At his time, black people were only permitted to sit in the back half of the bus. They could sit in the front but would have to move if a white person wanted to sit down. On December the 1st, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man. She was arrested and fined. This led to the boycott of public buses by other African-Americans on Monday the 5th. Approximately 40,000 bus riders boycotted the system. That afternoon, the Montgomery Improvement…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks claimed that the NAACP was considering filing a lawsuit against Montgomery bus segregation, but needed a strong case (Parks 110). That's where Rosa came in; during this time, African Americans vastly outnumbered the Caucasians when it came to riding the bus. It was reported that 50,000 African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama and the majority of them rode the bus (Parks 109). When Rosa decided to not stand up on December 1st, 1955 and the NAACP started the bus boycott, it impacted the whole bus system because it downed them in money (Parks #). The African-Americans finally had the power to control the white society, once they tasted the power they never wanted to go back. This is the time when many things changed for the African…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks Research Paper

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The black people of Montgomery decided that the best way to show their anger at what had happened and how they were being treated would be by boycott, not use, the local bus…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He was searching for a courageous colored woman with integrity and honest intentions to be a plaintiff in a legal challenge of the segregation laws. The Montgomery Improvement Association met on the day of Parks court date, where she was found guilty of violating the law, and decided to boycott the city’s bus program on December 5, 1955. This was known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was led by Martin Luther King Jr., the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. On June 5, 1956, the Montgomery federal court ruled that racial segregation violated the fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling on December 21, 1956. The boycott ended, and the buses were integrated. Parks small act of disobedience of what was required in society greatly impacted the nation because it, “matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done for ever” (Thoreau…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The organizer of the boycott is a fairly popular minister in southern United States at the time, he is known as Martin Luther King Jr. and his colleague Ralph Abernathy. The organizers called for all African Americans to no ride the city busses until further notice. According to Felicia Mcghee’s article The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Fall of the Montgomery City Lines, bus service was a core method of transportation for Montgomery’s black residents, as about half of the city’s 44,000 black residents regularly paid to use the service. Many blacks lived on Montgomery’s west side and would take the buses to the courtyard square in downtown Montgomery, then transfer buses to get to the city’s eastside. Many black domestic workers used buses to get to and from the white homes where they worked. So to get around town to get to their normal daily functions such as going to work/school, and other things they needed to get done many African Americans would walk, carpool, and take taxis. African Americans created taxi services that ran the same exact routes as the public transit and charged the same amount as they would pay to ride the…

    • 1790 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was during 1955 when Rosa Park refused to move to her seat and give it to a white passenger, during those times it is required by the law to automatically reserve the seat for the white, because of her resistance she was sentenced to jail. The NAACP took advantage of the opportunity to challenge the law; they advocated the one-day boycott to save the rights of the minority against the segregation of the black in transportation in public places. This lead to the encouragement and participation of more residents in Southern City and a huge percentage joined the protest by not riding the Montgomery buses, because of their success more boycott was initiated to underpin the segregation law. When the black continue to resist traveling using the Montgomery buses some of them were arrested, but the Montgomery Boycott lasted for more than a year and ended up with the court ruling that this segregation system of the black in public transportation was indeed unconstitutional, once again it is another victory for the Civil Rights Movement (Blum,…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. was apart of many, things, but one was the Montgomery Bus Boycott…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A lot of people seem to forget that Rosa Parks was already sitting in the African American section of the bus which went with the law. But, because a Caucasian man had nowhere to sit and Parks was in the first row of the section, they asked her to move. Knowing she was in the right and with the law, Parks declined and refused to move. This lead to Parks arrest and started the Montgomery Bus boycott. This specific boycott had people of all color walking to and from wherever they needed to go.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is a clearly written essay that explains the reasons behind, and the methods of nonviolent civil disobedience, and gently expresses King's disappointment with those who are generally supportive of equal rights for African-Americans. Martin Luther King, more than any other figure, shaped American life from the mid-'50s to the late '60s. This was a time when large numbers of Americans, barely recognized as such by sanctioned power, dared to dream of what the country could be at its best, in the face of what often was its worst. For example, in December, 1955, days after Montgomery civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to obey the city's rules mandating segregation on buses, a bus boycott was launched and King was elected as president of the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association. As the boycott continued through 1956, King gained national prominence as a result of his exceptional oratorical skills and personal courage. Despite attempts to suppress the movement, Montgomery buses were desegregated in December 1956, after the United States Supreme Court declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional. King's leadership took place during the most tumultuous period in America's recent past. Under his guidance, the unfathomable goal of abolishing federal and state-sanctioned segregation and discrimination was accomplished in only a few short years.<br><br>King's factual and reasoned approach is intended to win his adversaries over by appealing to their consciences. King works with a rhetorical tradition not only because it is effectual but also because it resonates with the deepest aspect of his calling which was to spread the gospel of brotherhood and justice (152). From his peaceful persuasion, to imaginative solutions in changing times to the power of hope, optimism, nonviolence strategy, and finally to the need for a great dream, these valuable applications are comprehensive instruments for taking courageous action under…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During this protests Dr. King house was attacked, but this did not stop him from fighting for the African American right. The boycott of the Montgomery Bus lasted for about 382 days and on December 21, 1956 the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses. This over turn of segregation caused many other African American to fight for their rights in places like school and job…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays