3/20/00 Mrs. Rosa Parks on the 1st of December in 1955 in Montgomery Alabambawas arrested for not standing and letting a white bus rider sit in herseat. It was a rule in the American South that blacks had to sit in theback of the bus.
Also africans were expected to give up their seat ifneeded. When she was told to get up from her seat and let the other bus driverbe seated Mrs. Parks had said no. She didn’t move nor argue.
The policewere called and Mrs. Parks was arrested. She was not the first black African-American arrested for this “crime. ”She was the first arrested who was well known in the Montgomery African-American community. Once she was secretary for the president of the NAACP(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
In Montgomery Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the pastor of the DexterAnevue Baptist Church. He and other black african community leaders felt aprotest of some kind was needed.
A big overflowing crowd came to hear hiswords when a meeting was called. The only way to fight back is to boycottthe company Dr. King told the crowd. Black African residents of the city refused to use the buses onDecember 5, in the morning. Some walked, the few with cars arranged ridesfor friends even strangers. Some of them even rode mules.
Only a few ofthem rode the bus that day. The African-American community leaders and Dr. King held another meetingto organize futre action. They named their organization the MontgomeryImprovement Association and elected Dr.
King as its president. As the boycott continued the white community fought blacks withterrorisim and harassment. The car-pool drivers were arrested for pickingup hitchhikers. African-Americans waiting on street corners for a ride werearrested for remaining in an area for no obvious reason.
Dr. Kings home was bombed badly on January 30, 1956. Dr. King his wifeand their baby daughter escaped without being seriously injured. An angrymob waited for Dr.
King when he arrived home. “We must learn to meet hate with love”he said. The boycott continued for over a year but then it eventualy took theUnited States Supreme Court to end the boycott. On November 13, 1956 thecourt declared that Alabamba’s state and local laws requiring segregationon buses were illegal. On December 20th federal injunctions were served onthe city and bus company officals forcing them to follow the SupremeCourt’s ruling. The following morning, December 21, 1956 , Dr.
King and Rev. GlenSmiley, a white minister, shared the front seat of a public bus. Theboycott had lasted 381 days. The boycott was a success.
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