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Rosa Parks started to be involved with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). She worked as a secretary for the Montgomery chapter. She focused on racial justice and voter registration.
The WPC (Women’s Political Council) was led by a Black woman in Montgomery. They began advocating for better treatment of black bus riders. -
A black girl named Claudette Colvin was fifteen years old and was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Therefore, local leaders decided not to use her case to stand against segregation because of her age and personal conditions. -
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the colored section of the Montgomery bus to a white passenger. She was arrested. This was a preplan for her and the NAACP to test the case to stand against bus segregation. -
Grassroots Mobilization
The WPC, led by Jo Ann Robinson, printed and distributed thousands of flyers asking and letting people know there would be a one-day boycott of the Montgomery buses. -
The one-day boycott was very successful. Leaders decided to continue the boycott. However, later that evening, at the Holt Street Baptist Church, the MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association) was informed. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is elected as the president of the MIA. Martin Luther King Jr. then rose as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Black citizens, who made up most of the bus riders, refused to ride the buses. Grassroots organizers created other transportation systems like carpools and walking groups. Churches served as a place for meetings. This was to maintain confidence and bring together efforts. -
The boycott attracted national media attention. This is framed as a confidence and constitutional battle against segregation.
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The MIA filed a lawsuit (Browder v. Gayle). The federal district court opposed the constitutionality of the bus segregation law.
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The federal court ruled in Browder v. Gayle. Meaning that bus segregation is unconstitutional. -
The United States Supreme Court justifies the lower court’s ruling that bus segregation violated the process and equal protection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment.
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The Supreme Court held the lower court’s decision, and the boycott finally ended.
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Montgomery’s buses were united, and the boycott ended.
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Library Of Congress. (n.d.). The Bus Boycott.
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/#:~:text=On%20November%2013%2C%201956%2C%20the,boycott%20on%20December%2020%2C%201956.
History.COM Editors. (2024). Civil Rights Movement.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement#rosa-parks -
Biography. (2020). Jo Ann Robinson.
https://www.biography.com/activists/jo-ann-robinson
History.COM Editors. (2023). Montgomery Bus Boycott.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott