Montgomery Improvement Association - wikipedia Montgomery Improvement Association The Montgomery Improvement Association ( MIA ) was formed on December 5, 1955 by black ministers and community leaders in Montgomery, Alabama. Under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Edgar Nixon, the MIA was instrumental in guiding the Montgomery bus boycott, a successful campaign that focused national attention on racial segregation in the South and catapulted King into the national spotlight... Contents 1 History 2 Forming the Association 3 Victory 4 People 5 Organizations 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading History Following Rosa Parks ' arrest on 1 December 1955 for failing to vacate her seat for a white passenger on a Montgomery city bus, Jo Ann Robinson of the Women 's Political Council and E.D. Nixon of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) launched plans for a one - day boycott of Montgomery buses on December 5, 1955, the following Monday. Since no one knew what to expect, the empty buses were a complete surprise. The success of the boycott on December 5, and the excitement on the mass meeting on the evening of that day, removed any doubt about the strong motivation to continue the boycott. As King put it, `` ( t ) he question of calling off the protest was now academic. The enthusiasm of these thousands of people swept everything along like an onrushing tidal wave. '' On the afternoon of December 5, the black leadership, consisting of civic and religious leaders of Montgomery, established the Montgomery Improvement Association. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen to lead the MIA at the age of 26, with Ralph Abernathy, Jo Ann Robinson, E.D. Nixon, Rufus Lewis and other prominent figures at his side. Forming the Association At a meeting that evening attended by several thousand community members, the MIA was established to oversee the continuation and maintenance of the boycott, and King, a young minister new to Montgomery, was elected its chairman president. According to Rosa Parks, `` Dr. King was chosen in part because he was relatively new to the community and so did not have any enemies. '' The organization 's overall mission, extended beyond the boycott campaign, as it sought to `` improve the general status of Montgomery, to improve race relations, and to uplift the general tenor of the community. '' After the MIA 's initial meeting, the executive committee drafted the demands of the boycott and agreed that the campaign would continue until demands were met. Their demands included courteous treatment by bus operators, first - come, first - served seating, and employment of African American bus drivers. Thus, despite the Supreme Court 's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the MIA was initially willing to accept a compromise that was consistent with separate but equal rather than complete integration. In this respect, it followed the pattern of earlier boycott campaigns in the Deep South during the 1950s. A prime example was the successful boycott of service stations in Mississippi for refusing to provide restrooms for blacks. The organizer of that campaign, T.R.M. Howard of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, had spoken in Montgomery as King 's guest at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church only days before Parks 's arrest. Over the next year, the MIA organized carpools and held weekly gatherings with sermons and music to keep the black community mobilized. Also during this time period, officers of the organization negotiated with Montgomery city leaders, coordinated legal challenges with the NAACP to the city 's bus segregation ordinance, and supported the boycott financially, raising money by passing the plate at meetings and soliciting support from northern and southern civil rights organizations. Victory Following its success in Montgomery, the MIA became one of the founding organizations of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) in January 1957. The MIA lost some vital momentum after King moved from Montgomery to Atlanta in 1960, but the organization continued campaigns throughout the 1960s, focusing on voter registration, local school integration, and the integration of Montgomery city parks. Although it lost momentum, it did however improve the life of black people living in Montgomery after the boycott. People Jefferson Underwood II Ralph Abernathy Rosa Parks Hugo Black James F. Blake Aurelia Browder Johnnie Carr Claudette Colvin Clifford Durr Georgia Gilmore Robert Graetz Fred Gray Grover Hall Junior. T.R.M. Howard Martin Luther King Coretta Scott King Susie McDonald E.D. Nixon Mother Pollard Jo Ann Robinson Bayard Rustin Glenn Smiley Mary Louise Smith Debbie Jones formerly Abbie Medlock Organizations Women 's Political Council Montgomery Improvement Association Fellowship of Reconciliation Congress of Racial Equality Southern Christian Leadership Conference Committee for Nonviolent Integration Men of Montgomery National Association for the Advancement of Colored People See also Browder v. Gayle References Jump up ^ `` Ralph Abernathy : King 's Right Hand Man ''. Legacy.com. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2015. Jump up ^ Fletcher, Michael ( 31 August 2013 ). `` Ralph Abernathy 's widow says march anniversary overlooks her husband 's role ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 March 2015. Jump up ^ King, Martin Luther. ( 1958 ) 1965. Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery story. ( 1st ) ed. New York : Harper. page 47. Jump up ^ Burks, Mary Fair. 1993. `` Trailblazers : Women in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. '' In Women in the Civil Rights Movement : Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941 - 1965, edited by Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse and Barbara Woods, 71 - 83. Bloomington : Indiana University Press. Jump up ^ Gilliam, Thomas J. 1989. `` The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 - 1956. '' In The Walking City : The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 - 1956, edited by David J. Garrow, 191 - 301. Brooklyn, N.Y. : Carlson Pub. Jump up ^ Rosa Louise Parks. A Call to Conscience : The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ed. Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard. Grand Central Publishing, 2002. p. 2 Jump up ^ `` Smiley, Glenn E. ''. Retrieved 1 December 2009. Further reading My Soul Is Rested, The Story Of The Civil Rights Movement In The Deep South, by Howell Raines, ISBN 0 - 14 - 006753 - 1 Parting The Waters ; America In The King Years 1954 - 63, by Taylor Branch, ISBN 0 - 671 - 46097 - 8 Stride Toward Freedom, by Martin Luther King Jr., ISBN 0 - 06 - 250490 - 8 The Origins Of The Civil Rights Movement, Black Communities Organizing For Change, by Aldon D. Morris, ISBN 0 - 02 - 922130 - 7 Eyes on The Prize, America 's Civil Rights Years 1954 - 1965, by Juan Williams, ISBN 0 - 14 - 009653 - 1 Eyes on The Prize Civil Rights Reader, documents, speeches, and first hand accounts from the black freedom struggle, Ed. Clayborne Carson, David J. Garrow, Gerabld Gill, Vincent Harding, Darlene Clark Hine, p. 45 - 60, ISBN 0 - 14 - 015403 - 5 Mary Fair Burks, `` Trailblazers : Women in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, '' in Vicki L. Crawford, * Jacqueline Anne Rouse and Barbara Woods, eds., Women in the Civil Rights Movement ( Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1990 ) Clayborne Carson, Stewart Burns, Susan Carson, Peter Holloran & Dana L.H. Powell, eds., The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume III : Birth of a New Age, December 1955 -- December 1956 ( Berkeley : University of California Press, 1997 ) Clayborne Carson, ed., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. ( New York : Warner Books, 1998 ) Robert Graetz, A White Preacher 's Memoir : The Montgomery Bus Boycott ( Black Belt Press, 1999. ) Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom : the Montgomery Story ( New York : Harper & Row, 1958 ) Aldon Morris, The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement : Black Communities Organizing for Change ( New York : The Free Press, 1994 ) Howell Raines, My Soul is Rested : Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered ( New York : Puttnam, 1977 ) Jo Ann Robinson, The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It ( Knoxville, Tennessee : University of Tennessee Press, 1987 ) `` MIA Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, '' 5 December 1955 `` To the Montgomery Public, '' advertisement submitted by King and the MIA to the Sunday Advertiser and Alabama Journal, 25 December 1955 King 's address to MIA Mass Meeting at Day Street Baptist Church, 26 April 1956 King 's address to MIA Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, 14 November 1956 The Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists, including materials from and oral history of MIA officials, available : http://www.libraries.psu.edu/digital/rabin/about.html African - American Civil Rights Movement ( 1954 -- 1968 ) Notable events ( timeline ) 1954 -- 1959 Brown v. Board of Education Bolling v. Sharpe Briggs v. Elliott Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County Gebhart v. Belton Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company Emmett Till Montgomery bus boycott Browder v. Gayle Tallahassee bus boycott Mansfield school desegregation 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom `` Give Us the Ballot '' Royal Ice Cream Sit - in Little Rock Nine National Guard blockade Civil Rights Act of 1957 Kissing Case Biloxi Wade - Ins 1960 -- 1963 Greensboro sit - ins Nashville sit - ins Sit - in movement Civil Rights Act of 1960 Gomillion v. Lightfoot Boynton v. Virginia Rock Hill sit - ins Robert F. Kennedy 's Law Day Address Freedom Rides attacks Garner v. Louisiana Albany Movement University of Chicago sit - ins `` Second Emancipation Proclamation '' Meredith enrollment, Ole Miss riot `` Segregation now, segregation forever '' Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 1963 Birmingham campaign Letter from Birmingham Jail Children 's Crusade Birmingham riot 16th Street Baptist Church bombing John F. Kennedy 's Civil Rights Address March on Washington `` I Have a Dream '' St. Augustine movement 1964 -- 1968 Twenty - fourth Amendment Bloody Tuesday Freedom Summer workers ' murders Civil Rights Act of 1964 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches `` How Long, Not Long '' Voting Rights Act of 1965 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections March Against Fear White House Conference on Civil Rights Chicago Freedom Movement / Chicago open housing movement Memphis Sanitation Strike King assassination funeral riots Poor People 's Campaign Civil Rights Act of 1968 Green v. County School Board of New Kent County Activist groups Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Atlanta Student Movement Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Congress of Racial Equality ( CORE ) Committee on Appeal for Human Rights Council for United Civil Rights Leadership Dallas County Voters League Deacons for Defense and Justice Georgia Council on Human Relations Highlander Folk School Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Montgomery Improvement Association Nashville Student Movement NAACP Youth Council Northern Student Movement National Council of Negro Women National Urban League Operation Breadbasket Regional Council of Negro Leadership Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Southern Regional Council Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ) The Freedom Singers Wednesdays in Mississippi Women 's Political Council Activists Ralph Abernathy Victoria Gray Adams Zev Aelony Mathew Ahmann William G. Anderson Gwendolyn Armstrong Arnold Aronson Ella Baker Marion Barry Daisy Bates Harry Belafonte James Bevel Claude Black Gloria Blackwell Randolph Blackwell Unita Blackwell Ezell Blair Jr. Joanne Bland Julian Bond Joseph E. Boone William Holmes Borders Amelia Boynton Raylawni Branch Ruby Bridges Aurelia Browder H. Rap Brown Guy Carawan Stokely Carmichael Johnnie Carr James Chaney J.L. Chestnut Colia Lafayette Clark Ramsey Clark Septima Clark Xernona Clayton Eldridge Cleaver Kathleen Neal Cleaver Charles E. Cobb Jr. Annie Lee Cooper Dorothy Cotton Claudette Colvin Vernon Dahmer Jonathan Daniels Joseph DeLaine Dave Dennis Annie Devine Patricia Stephens Due Charles Evers Medgar Evers Myrlie Evers - Williams Chuck Fager James Farmer Walter E. Fauntroy James Forman Marie Foster Golden Frinks Andrew Goodman Fred Gray Jack Greenberg Dick Gregory Lawrence Guyot Prathia Hall Fannie Lou Hamer William E. Harbour Vincent Harding Dorothy Height Lola Hendricks Aaron Henry Oliver Hill Donald L. Hollowell James Hood Myles Horton Zilphia Horton T.R.M. Howard Ruby Hurley Jesse Jackson Jimmie Lee Jackson Richie Jean Jackson T.J. Jemison Esau Jenkins Barbara Rose Johns Vernon Johns Frank Minis Johnson Clarence Jones Matthew Jones Vernon Jordan Tom Kahn Clyde Kennard A.D. King C.B. King Coretta Scott King Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Sr. Bernard Lafayette James Lawson Bernard Lee Sanford R. Leigh Jim Letherer Stanley Levison John Lewis Viola Liuzzo Z. Alexander Looby Joseph Lowery Clara Luper Malcolm X Mae Mallory Vivian Malone Thurgood Marshall Benjamin Mays Franklin McCain Charles McDew Ralph McGill Floyd McKissick Joseph McNeil James Meredith William Ming Jack Minnis Amzie Moore Douglas E. Moore William Lewis Moore Irene Morgan Bob Moses William Moyer Elijah Muhammad Diane Nash Charles Neblett Edgar Nixon Jack O'Dell James Orange Rosa Parks James Peck Charles Person Homer Plessy Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Fay Bellamy Powell Al Raby Lincoln Ragsdale A. Philip Randolph George Raymond Jr. Bernice Johnson Reagon Cordell Reagon James Reeb Frederick D. Reese Gloria Richardson David Richmond Bernice Robinson Jo Ann Robinson Bayard Rustin Bernie Sanders Michael Schwerner Cleveland Sellers Charles Sherrod Alexander D. Shimkin Fred Shuttlesworth Modjeska Monteith Simkins Glenn E. Smiley A. Maceo Smith Kelly Miller Smith Mary Louise Smith Maxine Smith Ruby Doris Smith - Robinson Charles Kenzie Steele Hank Thomas Dorothy Tillman A.P. Tureaud Hartman Turnbow Albert Turner C.T. Vivian Wyatt Tee Walker Hollis Watkins Walter Francis White Roy Wilkins Hosea Williams Kale Williams Robert F. Williams Andrew Young Whitney Young Sammy Younge Jr. James Zwerg Influences Nonviolence Padayatra Sermon on the Mount Mohandas K. Gandhi Ahimsa Satyagraha The Kingdom of God is Within You Frederick Douglass W.E.B. Du Bois Related Jim Crow laws Plessy v. Ferguson Separate but equal Buchanan v. Warley Hocutt v. Wilson Sweatt v. Painter Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States Katzenbach v. McClung Loving v. Virginia Fifth Circuit Four Brown Chapel Holt Street Baptist Church Edmund Pettus Bridge March on Washington Movement African - American churches attacked Journey of Reconciliation Freedom Songs `` Kumbaya '' `` Keep Your Eyes on the Prize '' `` Oh, Freedom '' `` This Little Light of Mine '' `` We Shall Not Be Moved '' `` We Shall Overcome '' Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam `` Beyond Vietnam : A Time to Break Silence '' Watts riots Voter Education Project 1960s counterculture In popular culture King Memorial Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Freedom Riders National Monument Civil Rights Memorial Noted historians Taylor Branch Clayborne Carson John Dittmer Michael Eric Dyson Chuck Fager Adam Fairclough David Garrow David Halberstam Vincent Harding Steven F. Lawson Doug McAdam Diane McWhorter Charles M. Payne Timothy Tyson Akinyele Umoja Movement photographers Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Montgomery_Improvement_Association&oldid=799031574 '' Categories : 1955 establishments in Alabama African Americans ' rights organizations History of African - American civil rights History of Montgomery, Alabama African - American history in Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery bus boycott Talk Contents About Wikipedia Italiano Edit links This page was last edited on 5 September 2017, at 06 : 43. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who did the montgomery improvement association choose as its leader
Answer: Ralph Abernathy