mid+20th+century+group+5+a+Montgomery+bus+boycott-+Rosa+Parks,+Martin+Luther+King,+Jr.+(1955)

=Montgomery Bus Boycott-Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1955)=

Overview[[image:busboycott_newspaper.gif width="150" height="102" align="right" caption="Newspaper headline" link="http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/jb/modern/jb_modern_parks_3_e.jpg"]]
A seamstress and former NAACP secretary named Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in downtown Montgomery. When the white bus driver asked the blacks that were sitting in the segregated part to move to accommodate more whites, everyone complied except for Parks. Parks took a stand and refused to get up. Minutes later she was arrested and sent to a Montgomery jail. The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially started that day on December 1, 1955. That was the day when the blacks of Montgomery, Alabama, decided that they would boycott the city buses until they could sit anywhere they wanted, instead of being relegated to the back when a white boarded.

Critical Issue[[image:rParksArrest.jpg width="150" height="128" align="right" caption="Rosa Parks being arrested" link="http://stufffromthelab.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/rosaparksarrested.jpeg"]]
The next day a meeting was held to organize the boycott. Under the leadership of E.D. Nixon, former chair of the NAACP of Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, H.H. Hubbard, and Ms. A.W. West an organized movement was finally underway. The group ranged from students, to church groups, and to prominent community elites. The Montgomery Improvement Association was formed, with Martin Luther King Jr. as their leader. The MIA adopted a plan of action for the protest that was officially to begin on December 5. The resolution basically stated three demands: first that blacks would not ride the buses until polite treatment by bus drivers were guaranteed to them, second that segregation must be abolished on buses and a first come first served policy adapted, and third the employment of black bus drivers. .

Conclusion/Historical Significance
From day one, the bus boycott proved to be immediately successful. Leaders had anticipated about 60% of blacks to participate in the movement,but at the end of day one it was predicted that there was nearly 100% cooperation. People had utilized other ways of transportation such as walking; using cabs, and getting rides in private car. On the forth day boycott members met with the bus company and other various government leaders to try to find a happy compromise. However, the leaders were unrelenting and the city created a law that would make it harder for blacks to use cabs. MIA leaders then filed a federal lawsuit against the Montgomery segregation laws. It was decided that the segregation laws were indeed unconstitutional; however, the case was brought to the Supreme Court were the decision was also agreed upon that segregation on buses were illegal. The boycott had finally come to an end on December 20, 1956. Martin Luther King Jr. became an icon for the civil rights movement which received its first victory.