Montgomery+Bus+Boycott

The Mongomery Bus Boycott was one of the first major events in the civil rights era. The boycott lasted from December 5, 1955 to December 21, 1956. It started when the city bus lines in Montgomery, Alabama were forced to integrate. The Mongomery Improvement Association (MIA) instituted the boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested. [|1] She was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. This is what started the boycott that lasted nearly 13 months. [|2] A young minister of African American descent named Martin Luther King Jr. lead the MIA. [|2] It was a pleasant surprise to the members of MIA that many people were willing to boycott the buses, even some white citizens joined in. The buses depended on the black community to keep their buses running. When the boycott was underway the bus companies had many financial problems. [|1] The boycotters were boycotting to demand that African-American bus drivers would drive the buses that traveled through routes heavily settled by blacks. Also that white bus drivers must stop calling African America passengers names. [|1] The white mayor of Mongomery and a White Citizen's Council called for violent action against the boycott participants. Because of this, the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling that made Montgomery's segregated bus systems illegal and that integration should begin on November 13, 1956. [|1]