Montgomery bus boycott - wikipedia Montgomery bus boycott This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 27 March 2018. Montgomery bus boycott Part of the Civil Rights Movement Rosa Parks on a Montgomery bus on December 21, 1956, the day Montgomery 's public transportation system was legally integrated. Behind Parks is Nicholas C. Chriss, a UPI reporter covering the event. Date December 5, 1955 -- December 20, 1956 ( 1 year and 15 days ) Location Montgomery, Alabama Caused by Racial segregation on public transportation Successful 6 - day Baton Rouge bus boycott Claudette Colvin arrested Rosa Parks arrested Resulted in Browder v. Gayle ( 1956 ) Emergence of Martin Luther King Jr. Inspired Tallahassee bus boycott Formation of Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Parties to the civil conflict Women 's Political Council ( WPC ) Montgomery Improvement Association ( MIA ) City Commission of Montgomery National City Lines Montgomery City Lines Montgomery Citizens Council Lead figures WPC member Jo Ann Robinson MIA members Martin Luther King Jr. E.D. Nixon Rosa Parks Fred Gray City Commission W.A. Gayle, President of the Commission ( mayor ) Frank Parks, Commissioner Clyde Sellers, Police Commissioner National City Lines Kenneth E. Totten, vice president Montgomery City Lines J.H. Bagley, manager Jack Crenshaw, attorney James F. Blake, bus driver Civil Rights Movement in Alabama Montgomery bus boycott Stand in the Schoolhouse Door Birmingham campaign Birmingham riot of 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing Bloody Tuesday Selma to Montgomery marches The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a seminal event in the Civil Rights Movement. The campaign lasted from December 5, 1955 -- the Monday after Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person -- to December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws that segregated buses were unconstitutional. Many important figures in the Civil Rights Movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. Contents 1 Events leading up to the bus boycott 1.1 Morgan v. Virginia decision 1.2 Baton Rouge bus boycott 1.3 Arrest of Claudette Colvin 1.4 Keys v. Carolina Coach Co. decision 2 History 2.1 Rosa Parks 2.2 E.D. Nixon 2.3 Boycott 2.4 Victory 3 Aftermath 4 Participants 4.1 People 4.2 Organizations 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links Events leading up to the bus boycott Prior to the bus boycott, Jim Crow laws enabled the racial segregation of the Montgomery Bus Line. As a result of this segregation African Americans were not hired as drivers, were forced to ride in the back of the bus, and were frequently ordered to surrender their seats to white people even though black passengers made up 75 % of the bus system 's riders. African - American passengers were also attacked by bus drivers and shortchanged and left stranded after paying their fares. A number of reasons have been given for why bus drivers acted in this manner, including racism, frustrations over labor disputes and labor conditions, and increased animosity towards blacks in reaction to the 1954 Brown decision, with many of the drivers joining the White Citizens Councils as a result of the decision. The boycott also took place within a larger statewide and national movement for civil rights, including court cases such as Morgan v. Virginia, the earlier Baton Rouge bus boycott, and the arrest of Claudette Colvin. Morgan v. Virginia decision Main article : Morgan v. Virginia The NAACP had accepted and litigated other cases, including that of Irene Morgan in 1946, which resulted in a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court on the grounds that segregated interstate bus lines violated the Commerce Clause. That victory, however, overturned state segregation laws only insofar as they applied to travel in interstate commerce, such as interstate bus travel, and Southern bus companies immediately circumvented the Morgan ruling by instituting their own Jim Crow regulations. Further incidents continued to take place in Montgomery, including the arrest for disorderly conduct in May 1951 of Lillie Mae Bradford, who refused to leave the white passengers ' section until the bus driver corrected an incorrect charge on her transfer ticket. Baton Rouge bus boycott Main article : Baton Rouge bus boycott On February 25, 1953, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana city - parish council passed Ordinance 222, after the city saw protesting from African - Americans when the council raised the city 's bus fares. The ordinance abolished race - based reserved seating requirements and allowed the admission of African - Americans in the front sections of city buses if there were no white passengers present, but still required African - Americans to enter from the rear, rather than the front of the buses. However, the ordinance was largely unenforced by the city bus drivers. The drivers later went on strike after city authorities refused to arrest Rev. T.J. Jemison for sitting in a front row. Four days after the strike began, Louisiana Attorney General and former Baton Rouge mayor Fred S. LeBlanc declared the ordinance unconstitutional under Louisiana state law. This led Rev. Jemison to organize what historians believe to be the first bus boycott of the civil rights movement. The boycott ended after eight days when an agreement was reached to only retain the first two front and back rows as racially reserved seating areas. Arrest of Claudette Colvin Main article : Claudette Colvin Black activists had begun to build a case to challenge state bus segregation laws around the arrest of a 15 - year - old girl, Claudette Colvin, a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery. On March 2, 1955, Colvin was handcuffed, arrested and forcibly removed from a public bus when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. At the time, Colvin was an active member in the NAACP Youth Council ; Rosa Parks was an advisor. Colvin 's legal case formed the core of Browder v. Gayle, which ended the Montgomery bus boycott when the Supreme Court ruled on it in December 1956. Keys v. Carolina Coach Co decision Main article : Keys v. Carolina Coach Co. In November 1955, just three weeks before Parks ' defiance of Jim Crow laws in Montgomery, the Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to a complaint filed by Women 's Army Corps private Sarah Keys, closed the legal loophole left by the Morgan ruling in a landmark case known as Keys v. Carolina Coach Co... The ICC prohibited individual carriers from imposing their own segregation rules on interstate travelers, declaring that to do so was a violation of the anti-discrimination provision of the Interstate Commerce Act. But neither the Supreme Court 's Morgan ruling nor the ICC 's Keys ruling addressed the matter of Jim Crow travel within the individual states. History Under the system of segregation used on Montgomery buses, the ten front seats were reserved for whites at all times. The ten back seats were supposed to be reserved for blacks at all times. The middle section of the bus consisted of sixteen unreserved seats for whites and blacks on a segregated basis. Whites filled the middle seats from the front to back, and blacks filled seats from the back to front until the bus was full. If other black people boarded the bus, they were required to stand. If another white person boarded the bus, then everyone in the black row nearest the front had to get up and stand, so that a new row for white people could be created ; it was illegal for whites and blacks to sit next to each other. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person, she was sitting in the first row of the middle section. Often when boarding the buses, black people were required to pay at the front, get off, and reenter the bus through a separate door at the back. Occasionally, bus drivers would drive away before black passengers were able to reboard. National City Lines owned the Montgomery Bus Line at the time of the Montgomery bus boycott. Rosa Parks Main article : Rosa Parks Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by Deputy Sheriff D.H. Lackey after her arrest for boycotting public transportation Rosa Parks ( February 4, 1913 -- October 24, 2005 ) was a seamstress by profession ; she was also the secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. Twelve years before her history - making arrest, Parks was stopped from boarding a city bus by driver James F. Blake, who ordered her to board at the back door and then drove off without her. Parks vowed never again to ride a bus driven by Blake. As a member of the NAACP, Parks was an investigator assigned to cases of sexual assault. In 1945, she was sent to Abbeville, Alabama, to investigate the gang rape of Recy Taylor. The protest that arose around the Taylor case was the first instance of a nationwide civil rights protest, and it laid the groundwork for the Montgomery bus boycott. A diagram showing where Rosa Parks sat in the unreserved section at the time of her arrest In 1955, Parks completed a course in `` Race Relations '' at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, where nonviolent civil disobedience had been discussed as a tactic. On December 1, 1955, Parks was sitting in the foremost row in which black people could sit ( in the middle section ). When a white man boarded the bus, the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back. At that moment, Parks realized that she was again on a bus driven by Blake. While all of the other black people in her row complied, Parks refused, and she was arrested for failing to obey the driver 's seat assignments, as city ordinances did not explicitly mandate segregation but did give the bus driver authority to assign seats. Found guilty on December 5, Parks was fined $10 plus a court cost of $4, and she appealed. Ed. Nixon This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2012 ) Some action against segregation had been in the works for some time before Parks ' arrest, under the leadership of E.D. Nixon, president of the local NAACP chapter and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Nixon intended that her arrest be a test case to allow Montgomery 's black citizens to challenge segregation on the city 's public buses. With this goal, community leaders had been waiting for the right person to be arrested, a person who would anger the black community into action, who would agree to test the segregation laws in court, and who, most importantly, was `` above reproach ''. When Colvin was arrested in March 1955, Nixon thought he had found the perfect person, but the teenager turned out to be pregnant. Nixon later explained, `` I had to be sure that I had somebody I could win with. '' Parks was a good candidate because of her employment and marital status, along with her good standing in the community. Between Parks ' arrest and trial, Nixon organized a meeting of local ministers at Martin Luther King Jr. 's church. Though Nixon could not attend the meeting because of his work schedule, he arranged that no election of a leader for the proposed boycott would take place until his return. When he returned, he caucused with Ralph Abernathy and Rev. E.N. French to name the association to lead the boycott to the city ( they selected the `` Montgomery Improvement Association '', `` MIA '' ), and they selected King ( Nixon 's choice ) to lead the boycott. Nixon wanted King to lead the boycott because the young minister was new to Montgomery and the city fathers had not had time to intimidate him. At a subsequent, larger meeting of ministers, Nixon 's agenda was threatened by the clergymen 's reluctance to support the campaign. Nixon was indignant, pointing out that their poor congregations worked to put money into the collection plates so these ministers could live well, and when those congregations needed the clergy to stand up for them, those comfortable ministers refused to do so. Nixon threatened to reveal the ministers ' cowardice to the black community, and King spoke up, denying he was afraid to support the boycott. King agreed to lead the MIA, and Nixon was elected its treasurer. Boycott The National City Lines bus, No. 2857, on which Rosa Parks rode before she was arrested ( a GM `` old - look '' transit bus, serial number 1132 ), is now on exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum. On the night of Rosa Parks ' arrest, the Women 's Political Council, led by Jo Ann Robinson, printed and circulated a flyer throughout Montgomery 's black community that read as follows : Another woman has been arrested and thrown in jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down. It is the second time since the Claudette Colvin case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing. This has to be stopped. Negroes have rights too, for if Negroes did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three - fourths of the riders are Negro, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother. This woman 's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Do n't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere on Monday. You can afford to stay out of school for one day if you have no other way to go except by bus. You can also afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown - ups, do n't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off all buses Monday. The next morning there was a meeting led by the new MIA head, King, where a group of 16 to 18 people gathered at the Mt. Zion Church to discuss boycott strategies. At that time Rosa Parks was introduced but not asked to speak, despite a standing ovation and calls from the crowd for her to speak ; when she asked if she should say something, the reply was, `` Why, you 've said enough. '' A citywide boycott of public transit was proposed to demand a fixed dividing line for the segregated sections of the buses. Such a line would have meant that if the white section of the bus was oversubscribed, whites would have to stand ; blacks would not be forced to give up their seats to whites. This demand was a compromise for the leaders of the boycott, who believed that the city of Montgomery would be more likely to accept it rather than a demand for a full integration of the buses. In this respect, the MIA leaders followed the pattern of 1950s boycott campaigns in the Deep South, including the successful boycott a few years earlier 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 on the brutal slaying of Emmett Till as King 's guest at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church only four days before Parks 's arrest. Parks was in the audience and later said that Emmett Till was on her mind when she refused to give up her seat. The MIA 's demand for a fixed dividing line was to be supplemented by a requirement that all bus passengers receive courteous treatment by bus operators, be seated on a first - come, first - served basis, and that blacks be employed as bus drivers. The proposal was passed, and the boycott was to commence the following Monday. To publicize the impending boycott it was advertised at black churches throughout Montgomery the following Sunday. On Saturday, December 3, it was evident that the black community would support the boycott, and very few blacks rode the buses that day. On December 5, a mass meeting was held at the Holt Street Baptist Church to determine if the protest would continue. Given twenty minutes notice, King gave a speech asking for a bus boycott and attendees enthusiastically agreed. Starting December 7, Hoover 's FBI noted the `` agitation among negroes '' and tried to find `` derogatory information '' about King. The boycott proved extremely effective, with enough riders lost to the city transit system to cause serious economic distress. Martin Luther King later wrote `` ( a ) miracle had taken place. '' Instead of riding buses, boycotters organized a system of carpools, with car owners volunteering their vehicles or themselves driving people to various destinations. Some white housewives also drove their black domestic servants to work. When the city pressured local insurance companies to stop insuring cars used in the carpools, the boycott leaders arranged policies at Lloyd 's of London. Black taxi drivers charged ten cents per ride, a fare equal to the cost to ride the bus, in support of the boycott. When word of this reached city officials on December 8, the order went out to fine any cab driver who charged a rider less than 45 cents. In addition to using private motor vehicles, some people used non-motorized means to get around, such as cycling, walking, or even riding mules or driving horse - drawn buggies. Some people also hitchhiked. During rush hours, sidewalks were often crowded. As the buses received few, if any, passengers, their officials asked the City Commission to allow stopping service to black communities. Across the nation, black churches raised money to support the boycott and collected new and slightly used shoes to replace the tattered footwear of Montgomery 's black citizens, many of whom walked everywhere rather than ride the buses and submit to Jim Crow laws. In response, opposing whites swelled the ranks of the White Citizens ' Council, the membership of which doubled during the course of the boycott. The councils sometimes resorted to violence : King 's and Abernathy 's houses were firebombed, as were four black Baptist churches. Boycotters were often physically attacked. After the attack at King 's house, he gave a speech to the 300 angry African Americans who had gathered outside. He said : If you have weapons, take them home ; if you do not have them, please do not seek to get them. We can not solve this problem through retaliatory violence. We must meet violence with nonviolence. Remember the words of Jesus : `` He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword ''. We must love our white brothers, no matter what they do to us. We must make them know that we love them. Jesus still cries out in words that echo across the centuries : `` Love your enemies ; bless them that curse you ; pray for them that despitefully use you ''. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love. Remember, if I am stopped, this movement will not stop, because God is with the movement. Go home with this glowing faith and this radiant assurance. King and 89 other boycott leaders and carpool drivers were indicted for conspiring to interfere with a business under a 1921 ordinance. Rather than wait to be arrested, they turned themselves in as an act of defiance. King was ordered to pay a $500 fine or serve 386 days in jail. He ended up spending two weeks in jail. The move backfired by bringing national attention to the protest. King commented on the arrest by saying : `` I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice. '' Also important during the bus boycott were grass - roots activist groups that helped to catalyze both fund - raising and morale. Groups such as the Club from Nowhere helped to sustain the boycott by finding new ways of raising money and offering support to boycott participants. Many members of these organizations were women and their contributions to the effort have been described by some as essential to the success of the bus boycott. Victory Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition `` 381 Days : The Montgomery Bus Boycott '' at the Washington State History Museum. Pressure increased across the country. The related civil suit was heard in federal district court and, on June 4, 1956, the court ruled in Browder v. Gayle ( 1956 ) that Alabama 's racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional. As the state appealed the decision, the boycott continued. The case moved on to the United States Supreme Court. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the district court 's ruling, ruling that segregation on public buses and transportation was against the law. The boycott officially ended December 20, 1956, after 381 days. The city passed an ordinance authorizing black bus passengers to sit virtually anywhere they chose on buses. The Montgomery bus boycott resounded far beyond the desegregation of public buses. It stimulated activism and participation from the South in the national Civil Rights Movement and gave King national attention as a rising leader. Aftermath White backlash against the court victory was quick, brutal, and, in the short - term, effective. Two days after the inauguration of desegregated seating, someone fired a shotgun through the front door of Martin Luther King 's home. A day later, on Christmas Eve, white men attacked a black teenager as she exited a bus. Four days after that, two buses were fired upon by snipers. In one sniper incident, a pregnant woman was shot in both legs. On January 10, 1957, bombs destroyed five black churches and the home of Reverend Robert S. Graetz, one of the few white Montgomerians who had publicly sided with the MIA. The City suspended bus service for several weeks on account of the violence. According to legal historian Randall Kennedy, `` When the violence subsided and service was restored, many black Montgomerians enjoyed their newly recognized right only abstractly... In practically every other setting, Montgomery remained overwhelmingly segregated... '' On January 23, a group of Klansmen ( who would later be charged for the bombings ) lynched a black man, Willie Edwards, on the pretext that he was dating a white woman. The City 's elite moved to strengthen segregation in other areas, and in March 1957 passed an ordinance making it `` unlawful for white and colored persons to play together, or, in company with each other... in any game of cards, dice, dominoes, checkers, pool, billiards, softball, basketball, baseball, football, golf, track, and at swimming pools, beaches, lakes or ponds or any other game or games or athletic contests, either indoors or outdoors. '' Later in the year, Montgomery police charged seven Klansmen with the bombings, but all of the defendants were acquitted. About the same time, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled against Martin Luther King 's appeal of his `` illegal boycott '' conviction. Rosa Parks left Montgomery due to death threats and employment blacklisting. According to Charles Silberman, `` by 1963, most Negroes in Montgomery had returned to the old custom of riding in the back of the bus. '' Participants People Ralph Abernathy Hugo Black James F. Blake Aurelia Browder Mary Fair Burks Johnnie Carr Claudette Colvin Clifford Durr Mildred Fahrni Georgia Gilmore Robert Graetz Fred Gray Grover C. Hall, Jr. Coretta Scott King Martin Luther King Jr. Theodora Lacey Edgar Nixon Rosa Parks Mother Pollard Jo Ann Robinson Bayard Rustin Nate Singleton Glenn Smiley Mary Louise Smith Organizations Committee for Nonviolent Integration Fellowship of Reconciliation Georgia Gilmore Men of Montgomery Montgomery Improvement Association National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Women 's Political Council See also 1957 Alexandra Bus Boycott Boycott ( 2001 film ) Bristol Bus Boycott, 1963 Jim Crow laws The Long Walk Home ( 1990 film ) Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story Rosa Parks Act 1950s portal Discrimination portal Alabama portal African - Americans portal References Jump up ^ Montgomery Bus Boycott ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans Jump up ^ Race and Racism in the United States : An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic edited by Charles A. Gallagher, Cameron D. Lippard, ABC - CLIO, 2014, page 807. 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Jump up ^ Borger, Julian ( 3 April 2006 ). `` Civil rights heroes may get pardons ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2017. ^ Jump up to : Dr. Mary Price ; Louisiana State University ( December 1, 2013 ). `` Baton Rouge Bus Boycott ''. lsu.edu. ^ Jump up to : Julio Alicea ; Swarthmore College ( December 9, 2010 ). `` African American passengers boycott segregated buses in Baton Rouge, 1953 ''. swarthmore.edu. Jump up ^ Nikki L.M. Brown, Barry M. Stentiford ( 2008 ). The Jim Crow Encyclopedia : Greenwood Milestones in African American History. books.google.com. p. 66. ISBN 978 - 0313341816. Jump up ^ Debbie Elliott ; National Public Radio ( June 19, 2003 ). `` The First Civil Rights Bus Boycott ''. npr.org. Jump up ^ Garrow, David J. ( 1985 ). `` The Origins of the Montgomery Bus Boycott ''. Journal of the Southern Regional Council. Emory University. 7 ( 5 ) : 24. Archived from the original on 2010 - 07 - 14. Jump up ^ Alison Shay ; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ( November 7, 2012 ). `` Remembering Sarah Keys ''. unc.edu. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Jump up ^ Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 ( 1956 ) Jump up ^ `` Smithsonian Source ''. www.smithsoniansource.org. Jump up ^ Garrow ( 1986 ) p. 13. David Garrow wrote, `` Mrs. ( Rosa ) Parks once told... how she had been physically thrown off a bus some ten years earlier when, after paying her fare at the front of the bus, she had refused to get off and reenter by the back door -- a custom often inflicted on black riders. '' Jump up ^ William J. Cooper, Jr., Thomas E. Terrill, The American South : A History, Volume II, 4 ed., Rowman and Littlefield, 2009, p. 730. Jump up ^ The company was sold to the City of Montgomery in 1974 and become the Montgomery Area Transit System Jump up ^ McGuire, Danielle L. ( 2010 ). At the Dark End of the Street : Black Women, Rape, and Resistance - A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. Random House. p. 8 and 39. ISBN 978 - 0 - 307 - 26906 - 5. Jump up ^ `` Rosa Park 's arrest report '' ( PDF ). December 1, 1955. Jump up ^ `` Parks, Rosa Louise. '' Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Online ( accessed May 8, 2009 ). ^ Jump up to : `` Rosa Parks, civil rights icon, dead at 92 - The Boston Globe ''. Boston.com. 2005 - 10 - 25. Retrieved 2012 - 09 - 28. Jump up ^ `` Leaflet, `` Do n't Ride the Bus '', Come to a Mass Meeting on 5 December ``. Mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 05. Jump up ^ Civil Rights History from the Ground Up : Local Struggles, a National Movement - Google Books. Books.google.com. 2011. ISBN 9780820338651. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 05. Jump up ^ Beito, David T. ; Beito, Linda Royster ( 2009 ). Black Maverick : T.R.M. Howard 's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power. Urbana : University of Illinois Press. Jump up ^ Jakoubek, Robert ( 1989 ). Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Leader. Philadelphia : Chelsea House Publishers. p. 49. Jump up ^ Phibbs, Cheryl Fisher ( 2009 ). The Montgomery Bus Boycott : A History and Reference Guide. ABC - CLIO. p. 19. ISBN 9780313358876. Jump up ^ Martin Luther King. `` Address to the first Montgomery Improvement Association ( MIA ) Mass Meeting ''. Stanford University. Jump up ^ `` To J. Edgar Hoover from Special Agent in Charge ''. Stanford University. Jump up ^ `` Montgomery Bus Boycott : The story of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement ''. Montgomeryboycott.com. Retrieved 2012 - 09 - 28. Jump up ^ Darby, Jean ( 1990 ). Martin Luther King, Jr. Minneapolis : Lerner Publishing Group. pp. 41 -- 42. ISBN 0 - 8225 - 4902 - 6. Jump up ^ `` Montgomery, Ala., Bus Boycott '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 2012 - 09 - 28. Jump up ^ `` State of Alabama V.M.L. King, Jr. ( 1956 and 1960 ) ''. Mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu. 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Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016. Jump up ^ McAdam, Doug ( December 1983 ). `` Tactical Innovation and the Pace of Insurgency ''. American Sociological Review. 48 ( 6 ) : 735 -- 54. doi : 10.2307 / 2095322. JSTOR 2095322. Jump up ^ Thornton, J. Mills ( 2006 ). Dividing Lines : Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. University of Alabama Press. pp. 111 -- 2. Jump up ^ `` Overview ''. www.montgomeryboycott.com. ^ Jump up to : Kennedy, Randall ( April 1989 ). `` Martin Luther King 's Constitution : A Legal History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott ''. The Yale Law Journal. 98 ( 6 ) : 999 -- 1067. JSTOR 796572. Jump up ^ Thornton, J. Mills ( 2006 ). Dividing Lines : Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. University of Alabama Press. p. 94. Jump up ^ Branch, Taylor ( 1988 ). Parting the Waters : America in the King Years 1954 - 1963. Simon and Schuster. p. 202. Jump up ^ Theoharis, Jeanne ( February 4, 2013 ). `` 10 Things You Do n't Know About Rosa Parks ''. Huffington Post. Jump up ^ Silberman, Charles E. ( 1964 ). Crisis in Black and White. Random House. pp. 141 -- 2. Jump up ^ Pitsula, James M. ( Spring 2003 ). `` Reviewed Work : No Plaster Saint : The Life of Mildred Osterhout Fahrni by Nancy Knickerbocker ''. Labour / Le Travail. Vancouver, Canada : Canadian Committee on Labour History and Athabasca University Press. 51 : 282 -- 284. doi : 10.2307 / 25149348. JSTOR 25149348. Further reading Berg, Allison, `` Trauma and Testimony in Black Women 's Civil Rights Memoirs : The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It, Warriors Do n't Cry, and From the Mississippi Delta '', Journal of Women 's History, 21 ( Fall 2009 ), 84 -- 107. Branch, Taylor. Parting The Waters : America In The King Years, 1954 - 63 ( 1988 ; New York : Simon & Schuster / Touchstone, 1989 ). ISBN 0 - 671 - 68742 - 5 Carson, Clayborne, et al., editors, Eyes on The Prize Civil Rights Reader : documents, speeches, and first hand accounts from the black freedom struggle ( New York : Penguin Books, 1991 ). ISBN 0 - 14 - 015403 - 5 Freedman, Russell, `` Freedom Walkers : The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott '' Garrow, David J. Bearing the Cross : Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. ( 1986 ) ISBN 0 - 394 - 75623 - 1 Garrow, David J., editor, The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It : The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson ( Knoxville : The University of Tennessee Press, 1987 ). ISBN 0 - 87049 - 527 - 5 King, Martin Luther, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom. ISBN 0 - 06 - 250490 - 8 Morris, Aldon D., The Origins Of The Civil Rights Movement : Black Communities Organizing For Change ( New York : The Free Press, 1984 ). ISBN 0 - 02 - 922130 - 7 Parks, Rosa ( 1992 ). My Story. New York : Dial Books. Raines, Howell, My Soul Is Rested : The Story Of The Civil Rights Movement In The Deep South. ISBN 0 - 14 - 006753 - 1 Walsh, Frank, Landmark Events in American History : The Montgomery Bus Boycott. Williams, Juan, Eyes on The Prize : America 's Civil Rights Years, 1954 - 1965 ( New York : Penguin Books, 1988 ). ISBN 0 - 14 - 009653 - 1 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Montgomery Bus Boycott. Alabama Civil Rights Collection - Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists, at Penn State University, includes oral history interviews and materials concerning Montgomery Bus Boycott Montgomery Bus Boycott article, Encyclopedia of Alabama Montgomery Bus Boycott - Story of Montgomery Bus Boycott Encyclopedia entry on the Montgomery Bus Boycott ~ Includes cross-referenced text, historical documents and streaming audio, presented by the King Research Institute at Stanford University The Montgomery Bus Boycott - African - American History Montgomery Bus Boycott ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans Learning From Rosa Parks, The Indypendent Montgomery Bus Boycott - Presented by the Montgomery Advertiser Civil Rights Era Mug Shots, Montgomery County Sheriff 's Office, Alabama Department of Archives & History Martin Luther King and the `` Montgomery Story '' Comic Book - 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott Documents Online collection of original boycott documents & articles by participants ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans. Montgomery Bus Boycott, Civil Rights Digital Library. The Boycott, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Civil rights movement Notable events ( timeline ) Prior to 1954 Murder of Harry and Harriette Moore 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 White America, Inc. 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 Report to the American People on Civil Rights 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 and Human 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 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 Joseph Ellwanger 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 J. Charles 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 Harriette Moore Harry T. 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 Mahatma Gandhi Ahimsa Satyagraha The Kingdom of God Is Within You Frederick Douglass W.E.B. Du Bois Mary McLeod Bethune 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_bus_boycott&oldid=832626358 '' Categories : Montgomery bus boycott Civil rights protests in the United States Boycotts of organizations Conflicts in 1955 History of African - American civil rights 1955 in the United States History of Montgomery, Alabama Martin Luther King Jr. African - American history of Alabama 1955 in Alabama 1956 in Alabama Transportation in Montgomery, Alabama Protests in Alabama 1955 in transport 1956 in transport Bus transportation in Alabama Hidden categories : All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from January 2018 Articles with permanently dead external links Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2014 Webarchive template wayback links Wikipedia pending changes protected pages All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2017 Articles needing additional references from November 2012 All articles needing additional references Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Français 한국어 Italiano עברית ქართული Lietuvių Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Português Русский Simple English Svenska Türkçe 中文 11 more Edit links This page was last edited on 27 March 2018, at 02 : 43. 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Question: when did the supreme court rule that bus segregation was unconstitutional
Answer: December 1956