Montgomery bus boycott

The bus where it all started.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a major event in the Civil Rights Movement. It happened in Montgomery, Alabama where the city transportation were segregated. Black passengers were required by law to ride in the back of the bus. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give her bus seat to a white person. She was arrested and sent to jail and was fined 14 dollars. In protest about 40,000 black people boycotted the Montgomery city buses, refusing to ride. The boycott lasted 381 days. On November 13, 1956, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision to desegregate the buses and implemented a first come first serve policy. In response the city of Montgomery passed a law allowing black passengers to sit anywhere on the buses. The boycott ended on December 20, 1956. Many important people in the civil rights movement took part in the boycott. This included Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy.

Montgomery Bus Boycott Media

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  Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by Deputy Sheriff D.H. Lackey after her arrest for boycotting public transportation

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  A diagram showing where Rosa Parks sat in the unreserved section at the time of her arrest

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  Montgomery Improvement Association poster announcing desegrated seating on buses (New York Public Library)

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  Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition "381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott" at the Washington State History Museum