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 bus, but before she could re-board at the rear door, he drove off leaving her to walk home in the rain. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to get up out of her seat in the colored section to a white male. Two police officers arrested Rosa Parks, she was forty two years old during the arrest. On December 5, Parks was found guilty of violating segregation laws and was fined ten dollars plus 4 dollars in court cost.
Enraged by Mrs. Parks arrest the black community of Montgomery united together and organized a boycott of the bus system until the city buses were integrated. The black men and women stayed of the buses until December 20, 1956, almost thirteen months after the boycott their goal was reached. The Montgomery Bus Boycott can be considered a major turning point in the Civil Rights Movement because it made Martin Luther King Jr. public leader in the movement, starting point for non-violent protest as an effective tool in the fight for civil rights, showed that African-Americans united for a cause could stand up to segregation. Being president of the Montgomery Improvement Association taught Martin Luther the skills and gave the exposure to become a great leader of a movement as large as the civil rights movement.
At Boston University, he met Coretta Scott; they were married in 1953. King's rise to national and international prominence began in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. In that year, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to obey a city ordinance that required African Americans to sit or stand at the back of municipal buses. The African American citizens of the city (one of the most thoroughly segregated in the South) organized a bus boycott in protest and asked King to serve as their leader. Thousands boycotted the buses for more than a year, and despite segregationist violence against them, King grounded their protests on his deeply held belief in nonviolence.
She was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement; she was arrested for not giving up her seat on a public bus to a white man when he wanted it. She was sick of being pushed around and shamelessly showed it by demanding respect. After this incident the black community started a major bus boycott. It started as a laughable situation that was expected to stop in a few days but ended as a serious problem for the Montgomery Bus Company. For over a year, the black community would not ride the buses.
This source was published just after, and is referring to, the arrest of Rosa May Parks on December 1st, 1955. Parks was arrested for refusing to move from her bus seat for a white passenger when asked to by the racist bus driver, James Blake. The two had met before in 1943 when Parks had boarded Blake?s bus from the front door, which was for whites only. Blake told Parks to exit the bus and re-enter from the rear door where she was supposed to but as Parks got off of the bus, Blake drove off leaving her to walk home. This defiance by Parks had created a major turning point in civil rights by sparking the start of the civil rights movement.
The whites sat in the back and black people sat in the front of the public buses. Many freedom riders faced violence and defied death threats as they strived to stop segregation by participating in these rides. In interstate bus travel under the Mason-Dixon Line, the growing movement toward racial equality influenced the 1960 presidential campaign. Federal rights verses state rights became an issue. One of the first documented incidents of the sit-ins for the civil rights movement was on February 1, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee.
90 percent at least of the regular negro bus passengers are staying off the buses and we plan to continue until something is done” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Discussing the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Rosa Parks started something big tired from a long day work. Rosa sat in a row reserved for blacks, when all of the front white rows had filled the bus driver asked Rosa and three others to move so that a white man could have a seat. At that time blacks and whites weren’t allowed to occupy the same row. Parks refused and was arrested.
Though Rosa Parks hates the segregation laws, and has been fighting for civil rights at the NAACP for more than 10 years, until today she has never been one to break rules. The bus continues along its route. After several more stops the bus is full. The driver notices that all the seats in the "Whites Only" section are now taken, and that more white people have just climbed aboard. He orders the people in Mrs.
This boycott would probably be successful since 70% of the riders were black. The bus company did not take them seriously, because if there was bad weather, they would have to take the bus. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was established to co-ordinate the boycott. They had a special agreement with black cab companies, in which they were allowed to get a ride for a much cheaper price than normal. Blacks had to walk to work, and so they did not have time to do any shopping and therefore the sales decreased dramatically.
On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year old seamstress refused to yield her seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested on the spot and fined fourteen dollars. Her bold courage issued forth a domino effect of non-violent protests that would break down the iron gate of segregation. As we read her story and the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott first hand from the articles published in the New York Times, we saw that her actions and the boycott that ensued was the most significant event of 1955. We will discuss the differences in the news reports that we gathered on the event and the various articles that have been written within the past ten years, after the end of the Civil Rights Movement.