The people I hold dear to my heart today are those of a race that this country’s society hated many decades ago. I am a firm believer of equality amongst everyone, but unfortunately, many of the white society back in the mid 20th century did not partake in my views. For instance, after the Civil War had ended white politicians in America placed a series of laws against black people into affect called the Jim Crow Laws. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped in and tried as hard as he could to help black equality with the public bus situation. The question at hand is what role did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. play in the Montgomery Bus Boycott? Dr. King fought for civil equality dealing with the segregation of public buses by defying the Jim Crow Laws, helped create the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and created motivation for black people to oppress white ruling in the south in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
After the Civil War, America was in a time of separation and segregation due to the southern state’s Jim Crow Laws. “Jim Crow laws restricted the rights of black people and kept them segregated from whites… On buses they had to sit at the rear and had to give up their seat whenever a white rider was left standing.” These Jim Crow laws caused Americans to be divided in the most superficial way possible: by the color of your skin. These laws existed for many years after the abolition of slavery. The problem was that black people had been told that they were being given freedom, but they were still treated like they were slaves. White people were willing to take the money of the black people, but they would not allow them to eat at the same restaurants as white people. “Blacks had to use separate restrooms, eat in separate restaurants, drink at s...
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...as not for the fame, or for the money, it was not for power, it was for quality. It was to give black people the same rights and privileges as white people; even rights as simple as being able to choose where you would like to sit on a bus. Without Dr, King the Montgomery bus boycott may never have got off the ground, and buses in the south might still be segregated even to this day. Through his conviction and devotion to the cause Dr. King proved that change can happen without violence.
Work Cited Page
Harding, Vincent. Martin Luther King, the Inconvenient Hero. Mary knoll, NY: Orbis, 1996. Print
Kent, Deborah, Freedom Riders. Chicago: Childrens, 1993. Print
Kissinger, Jo s., and Stephen Walker. Rosa’s Bus. Honesdale, PA: Calkins Creek, 2010. Print
Miller, Jake. The Montgomery Bus Boycott: Integrating Public Buses. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2004. Print
On the date May 26, 1956, two female students from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, had taken a seat down in the whites only section of a segregated bus in the city of Tallahassee, Florida. When these women refused to move to the colored section at the very back of the bus, the driver had decided to pull over into a service station and call the police on them. Tallahassee police arrested them and charged them with the accusation of them placing themselves in a position to incite a riot. In the days after that immediately followed these arrests, students at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University organized a huge campus-wide boycott of all of the city buses. Their inspiring stand against segregation set an example and an intriguing idea that had spread to tons of Tallahassee citizens who were thinking the same things and brought a change of these segregating ways into action. Soon, news of the this boycott spread throughout the whole entire community rapidly. Reverend C.K. Steele composed the formation of an organization known as the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) to manage the logic and other events happening behind the boycott. C.K. Steele and the other leaders created the ICC because of the unfounded negative publicity surrounding the National Associat...
In today’s world, social justice, otherwise known as equality and egalitarianism between the races, genders, and religions, is highly sought after. In addition to modern struggles, many movements throughout the course of history that date from even before the 1930s until just recently have been started to demand equal rights for certain ethnic groups. Coretta Scott King’s memoir, Montgomery Boycott gives the reader an inside view of Martin Luther King’s personal life during the Montgomery City Bus Line boycott for impartiality in public transportation after Rosa Parks’ famous arrest. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she discusses how the Southern population in the 1930s allowed racism and the Jim Crow Laws to become socially
Martin Luther King, Jr. catapulted to fame when he came to the assistance of Rosa Parks, the Montgomery, Alabama Black seamstress who refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus to a White passenger. In those days American Blacks were confined to positions of second class citizenship by restrictive laws and customs. To break these laws would mean subjugation and humiliation by the police and the legal system. Beatings, imprisonment and sometimes death were waiting for those who defied the System.
...ealing to the compassion of the humanity through the means of civil disobedience, Dr. King was able to expose racial injustices and appeal to the human conscience and national opinion so that those who had the power to initiate change would support him and those who were fighting to overcome oppression.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott can be viewed as a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, as neither one’s success was due solely to the work of the political system; a transformation in the consciousness of America was the most impactful success of both. Passionate racism ran in the veins of 1950s America, primarily in the south, and no integration law would influence the widespread belief that African Americans were the same level of human as Caucasians. The abolition of racism as a political norm had to start with a unanimous belief among blacks that they had power as American citizens; once they believed that to be true, there was no limit to the successes they could see.
Dr. King is a man who is over flowed of nothing but creditability. Not once he pointed his finger as a child would and blame the Caucasian men for forcing the African-American to attempt to survive a horrific ordeal of history. He encouraged his brother and sisters of color not to protests with bitter and physical violence but to engage hands and peacefully demand to be treated equally. He encouraged his colored brothers and sisters to go back to where they are from with not despair in their hearts, but hope that one day there will be freedom within reach.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s impact on the civil rights movement was nothing short of monumental. To say anything less may be considered sacrilege in the history of the United States. King’s liberal and Christian upbringing, comfortable and educated childhood, and his theological education all played a large part in his contributions to civil rights in America.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the greatest civil rights leaders to ever live. Through his empowering speeches, he made a huge impact on the world for the equality of all races. Throughout King’s life, he showed everyone how he believed equality should be acquired. With his peaceful protests and amazing speeches, he influenced people both during his time and after he passed. Many believe that King’s work in the Civil Rights Movement was the final push that America needed to finally respect people no matter their skin color.
The direct result the boycott of, as can been seen in this newspaper article (SOURCE 17) was that on November 13th 1965 bus segregation was knocked out. A federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect, and led to the Supreme Court declaring that Alabama’s bus segregation was unconstitutional. The boycott experienced such a degree of success because of the effectiveness from protesters displaying the nonviolent protest. King believed that a nonviolent protest was the only effective means of improving the conditions of blacks in the white oppressive society of America during this era. The Montgomery Bus Boycott significantly impacted on the wider Civil Rights Movement. It’s impact helped launch of what Roberta Wright called, “a 10-year national struggle for freedom and justice, the Civil Rights Movement that stimulated others to do the same at home and abroad." (SOURCE 5) The boycott was the real beginning of the Civil Right Movement and set the tone for the rest of the Civil Rights Movement. The boycott inspired action across the South. In using the word of an expert in history, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott became the first powerful example of what ordinary African Americans could achieve.” (SOURCE 3) It showed that African Americans could win freedom victories themselves by taking nonviolent direct
Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation in the United States was commonly practiced in many of the Southern and Border States. This segregation while supposed to be separate but equal, was hardly that. Blacks in the South were discriminated against repeatedly while laws did nothing to protect their individual rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ridded the nation of this legal segregation and cleared a path towards equality and integration. The passage of this Act, while forever altering the relationship between blacks and whites, remains as one of history’s greatest political battles.
King traveled the country making speeches and inspiring people to become involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He organized non-violent student sit-ins and fought for the rights of the black population. In his speech, he proclaimed a free and better nation of equality and that both races, the blacks and the whites, should join together to achieve common ground and to support each other instead of fighting against one another. King’s vision is that all people should be judged by their “personality and character and not by their color of skin”(‘I Have a Dream”). All the points he made in his speech were so strong that lots of people were interested in his thoughts. He dreamed of a land where the blacks could vote and have a reason to vote and where every citizen would be treated the same and with the same justice.
Americans needed Martin Luther King Jr., but above all, America needed him. With his constant pursuit for equality, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped bridge the gap between African Americans and whites. His nonviolent methods of protest helped create an awareness of the inequalities that African Americans had to endure. King helped America realize that it needed to change in order to truly prosper. Martin Luther King had the best philosophy for riding America of segregation, he used nonviolent methods to get Americans to realize that segregation needed to be stopped and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for equality and a better nation.
Before any steps could be taken for the equality of human kind, we had the tackle the idea of intergrationism. This time is often referred to as the Nadir of American Race Relations, which simply put means that racism was at its worst during the time period of the Civil Rights Movement. Pulling together for equality proved to be a grueling task for Americans. In order to move into the future, one must let go of the past, and many people were not eager to abandon the beliefs that had been engrained in them since birth. Racial discrimination was present nationwide but the outrageous violence of African Americans in southern states became know as Jim Crow Laws.
Montgomery Bus Boycotts: Role of Women in the Civil Rights Movement. During the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 60's, women played an undeniably significant role in forging the path against discrimination and oppression. Rosa Parks and Jo Ann Robinson were individual women whose efforts deserve recognition for instigating and coordinating the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycotts that would lay precedent for years to come that all people deserve equal treatment despite the color of their skin. The WPC, NAACP, and the Montgomery Churches provided the channels to organize the black public into a group that could not be ignored as well supported the black community throughout the difficult time of the boycott.
Robinson, Jo Ann Gibson, and David J. Garrow. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: the Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1987. Print.