Behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Abstract

Ten months ago, the Negroes of Montgomery, Alabama, startled the rest of the nation and world by their unprecedented united protest action against segregation on the city's buses. On Decernber 5, the day after Mrs. Rosa Parks was fined for refusing to give her seat to a white man, almost the entire Negro population defiantly stayed off the buses. Everywhere, people watched this dramatic development: Was it merely a gesture of protest? Would it subside in a few days' time? To the amazement of the onlookers, the boycott continued, grew stronger, more organized, and more determined. Car pools were organized and coordinated, mass meetings were held regularly, speeches calling for passive resistance to injustice were made by a hitherto unknown young Negro pastor, and support from the Negro community within and beyond Montgomery was of a new crusading nature.

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