The Montgomery Bus Boycott: The Black Power Movement

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.

Although the other African Americans complied, Rosa Parks did not. She was then arrested and fined. The Montgomery Bus Boycott took place for days after the incident with Rosa Parks from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. During this time, African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in protest of segregated seating. The Bus Boycott lasted 381 days. On June 5, 1956, the Montgomery federal court ruled that any law requiring racially segregated seating on buses violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens, regardless of race, equal rights and equal protection under state and federal laws.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was significant because it was regarded as the earliest mass protest on

Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and others, were the founders of the Black Panther Party. The emphasis of the Black Panther Party and Black Party and Black Power Movement justified the use of violence in the accomplishment of black justice. They believed that African Americans had to fight back to achieve their goal of equality. Therefore, the Black Panther Party and part of the Black Power Movement have been wrongfully associated with violence and negativity. However, the Black Power movement stimulated thousands of African Americans to speak out against the wrongful treatment of whites towards African