truman eisenhower kennedy johnson. montgomery, alabama had a long history of black activism in...
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TrumanEisenhowerKennedyJohnson
Montgomery, Alabama had a long history of black activism
In 1900, four years after Plessy v. Ferguson established Jim Crow and “separate but equal”, Montgomery segregated the new electric trolley lines
African-Americans of Montgomery boycotted the lines and company profits fell 25%
Trolley boycott lasted 2 years and though segregation was not overturned, there was a compromise reached between the African American community and the city: A driver could order a Black rider to move only if there were vacant seats in the back of the trolley
By 1955 Montgomery had 68 organizations dedicated to advancing the rights of African American citizens
One organization, Women’s Political Council (WPC), founded by Professor Mary Fair Burks of Alabama State University was comprised of educated Black women
1955-the WPC responded to over 30 complaints by Black riders on city buses
March 2, 1955, 8 months before Rosa Parks was arrested; a 15 year old Booker T. Washington high school student, Claudette Colvin, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a White rider
Other Black women had been arrested before Colvin-Geneva Johnson, Viola White, Katie Wingfield, Espie Worthy
Discussions for a boycott had been floated for years May 1954, Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, WPC
president and professor of English at Alabama State University sent a letter to the mayor, threatening a boycott if conditions did not improve
In Montgomery, Alabama during the fifties, African Americans made up the majority of riders on the Montgomery City Lines
The City ordinance in support of segregation dictated that blacks paid their fares in the front, got off the vehicle, and entered the “colored section” through the rear door. They also had to relinquish their seats to white passengers when the front section filled up.
December 1, 1955—Rosa Parks, a forty-two year-old black seamstress, and member of the local NAACP, refused to give up her seat to a white person and was arrested
This wasn’t the first incident. Parks in 1943 had boarded a bus and paid the
fare. She then moved to her seat but driver James F. Blake told her to follow city rules and enter the bus again from the back door.
Parks exited the vehicle and waited for the next bus, determined never to ride with Blake again
Parks had attended a 1955 workshop at Highlander Folk School in Tennessee four months before refusing to give up her bus seat
Founded in 1932 by Myles Horton, Highlander was one of the few places in the South where integrated meetings could take place, and served as a site of leadership training for southern civil rights activists.
Lead by Septima Clark, Highlander developed a citizenship program in the mid-1950s that taught African Americans their rights as citizens while promoting basic literacy skills.
At Highlander, students practiced non-violent resistance and the song “We Shall Overcome” was introduced to the movement
Visitors would testify that interracial living would have a greater impact on them than workshops
News of Park’s arrest spread quickly Jo Ann Robinson initiated the boycott with a
call to Fred D. Gray, one of two black lawyers in Montgomery
She typed up a leaflet announcing the boycott the same day of Park’s arrest
With the help of Alabama State’s mimeograph machine she used up 35 reams of paper to produce 52,500 leaflets announcing the boycott; the leaflets were read in all of Montgomery’s Black churches
3 days after Parks’ arrest a bus boycott was organized by local clergymen calling themselves the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and the Women’s Political Council (WPC)
One of the original leaders of the MIA was Reverend Ralph Abernathy; in addition the MIA chose a young 28 year old minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the struggle for open seating in public transportation
King was a newcomer to town, served as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. He was familiar with the works of Gandhi and Thoreau
Viewed mass action and non-violent resistance essential to fight against racial justice
Robinson and the WPC spent the weekend charting assembly points for Monday pickups, organizing phone banks, subsidizing rates with Black taxi drivers and organizing 200 cars and trucks to use as alternate transport
Thousands made it to their jobs and found ways to pick up their children from school; purchase groceries and make it home
The boycott would last for 381 days It ended on December 20, 1956 when the Supreme Court declared
that local and state bus segregation laws were unconstitutional After the boycotts, in 1957-King joined with other black ministers
and activists to form Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); members included Bayard Rustin a long time labor, peace and civil rights activist; Stanley Levison, a Jewish lawyer experienced in radical causes; and Ella Baker
Baker would become the first full-time executive director; She was outspoken and suspicious of charismatic leadership; She questioned King’s non-violent approach
Wineburg, Sam. Et al, Reading Like a Historian, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2013.
Lawson, Stephen F. and Payne, Charles. Debating the Civil Rights Movement. Rowan and Littlefield Publishers. 2006
Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. “Martin Luther King and the Global Freedom Struggle”. Stanford University, 2015.
