Montgomery Bus Boycott Outline

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest that took place shortly after an African- American woman, Rosa Parks, wouldn’t give up her seat, to a white man, on a Montgomery Bus. The Montgomery Bus Boycott meant that African- Americans would refuse to ride the buses in Montgomery, Alabama to protest segregated seating. Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for not giving up her seat. The boycott began on the day of Rosa Park’s court hearing and lasted 381 days. In 1955, African Americans still had to be seated in the back of the bus and give their seats to white riders because of a Montgomery, Alabama city ordinance. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress, was on her way home from work on a Cleveland Avenue bus, where she refused to yield her seat to a white rider. Rosa was seated at the front of the “colored
He arose as a noticeable national leader of the American civil rights movement in the stir of action. As the boycott spread, African- American leaders across Montgomery Alabama’s capital city began lending their support. Black ministers announced the boycott in church on Sunday, December 4. On the afternoon of December 5, black leaders met to form the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). The group elected Martin Luther King Jr., 26 at the time, as its president and decided to carry on the boycott until the city met its demands.
In the beginning, the demands did not include changing the segregation laws but to gain courtesy, to have black drivers hired, and a first come, first seated policy where white enter in the front and fill the seats and African- Americans from the back. The city resisted meeting the MIA’s demands even though African- Americans made up 75 percent of the bus riders. Many of the blacks chose to walk to work and other destinations. Civil Rights leaders organized mass meetings to keep African- American citizens equipped around the