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An essay on Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott
Civil rights movement in the USA
Martin luther king jr and civil rights movement
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The 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott may be sometimes characterized as furious African Americans who wanted equal rights to whites. Blacks began to get tired of the treatment they had been receiving throughout the years. The laws stated that blacks should never sit to the front of the bus and if whites wanted to sit, then the blacks should move to the back. African Americans of Montgomery, Alabama were tired of segregation and being mistreated and they wanted to do something about it. The Montgomery Bus Boycott is still known to be an important civil rights movement in history, and it came about by the arrest of Rosa Parks, the organization of boycotts by Martin Luther King Jr, and the organization of a protest.
Rosa Parks, a brave woman of the Civil Rights movement had gotten tired of segregation and decided to take a stand. Rosa Parks became tremendously well known for her major role of the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 (Garrow n.p.). Parks was a strong minded person and never weak willed. Rosa Parks had violated the city law and was arrested for refusing to giver up her seat to a white man that wanted to sit down (Garrow n.p.). After Parks had been arrested, many African Americans were highly distraught. The actions of Rosa Parks had been a vital topic during the struggle of African Americans (“The Montgomery Bus Boycott” 89). Just like Montgomery buses, many other buses in other cities were segregated as well (The Montgomery Bus Boycott” 89). Soon after the arrest, citizens were fed up with being mistreated and demanded equal rights (Garrow n.p.). Parks had been weary of being tired so on that day; she decided that a change was going to be made.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr decided that a change was going to be made for...
... middle of paper ...
...his people out of segregation and on board with equality. Both Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr made a huge change in 1955-56 and is still remembered today.
Works Cited
DeGegory, Crystal A. “King, Martin Luther Jr. (1929-1968). “Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 years of African American Civil Rights Experience (2009): 302-303. History Reference Center. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
Garrow, David J. “Parks, Rosa Louise.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
Marsico, Katie. Perspectives on the Montgomery Bus Boycott: Milestone of the Civil Rights Movement. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2012. Print.
Murphy, Bruce Allen. “The Montgomery Bus Boycott.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
“The Montgomery Bus Boycott. The American Scene: Events: World War II and the Cold War: 1942-1958. Vol 7. Danburry, CT: Grolier, 1999. Print. 9 Vols.
Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that aimed for the desegregation of the bus systems in Montgomery, Alabama.[i] The organization revolved around the emerging civil rights leader and pastor Martin Luther King Jr. Three years later, King’s method of non-violent protests would inspire four students to begin the Greensboro sit-ins in North Carolina, which is regarded as one of the most significant demonstrations at the time.[ii] Many of the discriminatory practices during this time period stems from whiteness, which is a belief about entitlement and ownership for whites based solely on their skin color. The media utilizes rhetorical devices, such as analogy, polarizing
In 1955, African Americans were required by a Montgomery, Alabama city ordinance to sit in the back of all city buses. They had to give up their seats to white American riders if the front of the bus, which was reserved for whites, was full. On December 1, 1955, a few days before the Montgomery Bus Boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat to a white man on the Montgomery bus. When the white seats filled, the driver, J. Fred Blake, asked Rosa Parks and three other African Americans to vacate their seats.
On December 5, 1955, thousands of African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama walked, carpooled, or hitchhiked to work in an act of rebellion against segregation on buses. This bus boycott was not the first of its kind – black citizens of Baton-Rouge, Louisiana had implemented the same two years prior – but the bus boycott in Montgomery was a critical battle of the Civil Rights Movement. Though the original intent of the boycott was to economically cripple the bus system until local politicians agreed to integrate the city’s buses, the Montgomery Bus Boycott impacted the fabric of society in a much deeper way. Instead of only changing the symptoms of a much larger problem, this yearlong protest was the first step in transforming the way all Americans
“Alabama’s Boycott: What its all about.” US News and World Report 3 Aug 1956: 84-88
The Montgomery bus boycott was caused when Rosa Parks, an African American woman on December 1, 1955 refused to obey the bus driver James Blake’s that demanded that she give up her seat to a white man. Because she refused, police came and arrested her. During her arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience, it triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world. Soon after her arrest, Martin Luther King Jr. led a boycott against the public transportation system because it was unfair. This launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the
Rosa Parks was a member of the NAACP, lived in Montgomery Alabama, and rode the public bus system. In the south, during this time the buses were segregated which meant that black people had to ride in the back of the bus behind a painted line. White people entered the front of the bus and were compelled to sit in front of the painted line. Most buses at the time had more room for white riders who used the service less than the black ridership. Yet, they could not cross the line even if the seats in the front were empty (Brown-Rose, 2008). Rosa Parks made a bold statement when she sat in the “white section” of a Montgomery bus. She was asked to surrender her seat to a white man, but she did not move and was soon arrested. Her brave action started the Montgomery bus Boycott, with the help of the NAACP, none other than Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership as part of the Montgomery Improvement Association. As its President, he was able spread the word quickly which brought national attention to the small town of Montgomery’s bus Boycott. The boycott was televised and brought so much attention that the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional; a success spurring a more
Rosa Parks was a African American woman who sat in the front of the bus after a long hard day at work. As she traveled on the bus back home, a Caucasian male approached and asked her to get up from her seat to go to the back of the bus because he wanted to sit there. Instead of avoiding the trouble and just going to the back of the bus, she decided to stay where she was . Due to the time period, because of her not giving her seat up to the gentlemen, she was arrested and charged with civil disobedience. After her arrest was made a boycott would ensue
The bus boycott was one of the foundations leading up to the civil rights movement. This historical event has changed the way people look at America as a country. The bus boycott increased the idea of freedom for many generations to come. Now more than ever, the bus boycott and events that followed are changing today’s equal rights issues. The equal rights movement affected everyone back then and today.
Despite the great efforts put forth during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 in which the black community and its supporters refused to use public transportation, transport segregation still remained in some southern states. As a result the civil rights group, the Congress on Racial Inequality (C.O.R.E.), began to organize what they called “freedom rides.” In 1961, the group began sending student volunteers on bus trips to test the implementation of new laws prohibiting segregation in interstate travel facilities (Peck, 161). Most notable was a trip they took from Washington, D.C., making stops in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Upon arrival the group was met with violence and brutality from the Ku Klux Klan and others, but this did not deter them from getting their voice heard. In September 1961, the Attorney General petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to draft a policy making racial segregation in bus terminals illegal, and in November this was put into effect. The Freedom Riders gave national publicity to the discrimination that black Americans were forced to endure and, in doing so, helped bring about change not only in bus terminals but in the nation as a whole.
In conclusion, Rosa Parks was an outstanding hero that helped desegregate the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama. She gained a lot of fellow friendships and also became a civil right Activists. She earned a lot of respect and rewards for her actions of not giving her seat up. As you can see her life her hero story fits very well with Joseph Campbell’s stages of the hero’s
Rosa Parks, was a Civil Rights activist who was best known for the incident on the Montgomery bus. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white male who demanded she seat herself in the ‘appropriate colored’ space located at the back of the bus for black men and women. Her defiance to the law that day became known to the world.
...ivil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown vs. Board of Educa2tion of Topeka decision of 1954.” The Montgomery bus boycott happened on “December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks... who refused to give up her sear to a white passenger on a bus” she was arrested. Later, the Supreme Court ruled “segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in November 1956.”
Shortly after the Montgomery Bus Boycott the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was created, in which Dr. King was a leader of. The SCLC gave King...
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.