Montgromery Bus Boycott Facts – The Real Cause

Many African-Americans refuse riding on city buses in the vicinity of Montgomery, Alabama during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This was the way for them to protest the presence of segregated seating. This then occurred on December 5, 1955 up until December 20, 1956 which was regarded to be the very first large-scale demonstration which happened in the US on the same year itself. This was four days prior to the boycottin. Rosa Parks, who was then an African-American, had to refuse yield the seat she owned for a white man on the said Montgomery bus. Since then, she was arrested and she had to bail.

The boycotting of most public buses through these blacks started on the day of the court of Park’s hearing. This went through for around 381 days. It was the U.S Supreme Court that immediately ordered Montgomery to integrate in the system of buses. One of the leaders of this boycott was a young pastor in the name of Martin Luther King Jr. He emerged to be a prominent national leader just of this American civil rights movement just in the wake of the plain action of it.

In the year 1955, All African-Americans were being required by the city of Montgomery, through a city ordinance to sit in the back of all city buses. They are supposed to yield their seat whenever there were white riders in the place. Most of the time, front half of such bus would be full of white people. They will be reserved just like that. This was the reason when 1955 came, the seamstress Rosa Parks upon returning home from a job at a certain local department store did the same. This was on Cleveland Avenue Bus.

Going back to Parks, she was just seated in the front of the bus. This was dubbed to be the colored section. When the seats of the bus were all occupied by the white, the driver, in the name of J. Fred Blake, had to ask Parks, and then three others to leave their seats and vacate. Most of the riders complied of course. However, Parks did not do the same. Because of this, she was arrested. She had to give a fine of almost $10, and then an additional of $4 in order for court fees to be settled. This was not the only encounter Parks had with Blake. Just in the year 1943, she had to pay her fare in the front of the bus that he was driving. After that, she got to exit. However, she re-entered using the back door. This was required. Blake then pulled away prior to her re-boarding the bus.

Aside from Rosa Parks, there were still others arrested because of the act. The same was the case with Claudette Colvin. This took place in the year 1939. She was arrested just in Montgomery for the same act itself. The black leaders of the city had to protest. This was the time when they discovered that Colvin was actually carrying a child.