Montgomery Bus Boycott

Background
In December 1955, African-American seamstress Rosa Parks took the bus on her way home from work. Although this was a bus for both black and white people, it was segregated. This means that the bus was divided into two sections; whites in the front and blacks in the back. In addition to legally being able to redistribute seats on the bus, the Montgomery bus drivers could throw black passengers off the bus if they did not surrender their seats. After a while the bus got crowded which resulted in four white people standing up. The bus driver then commanded four of the black passengers to give up their seats. However, Parks refused to. This lead to the bus driver calling the police and had Parks arrested. After a couple of hours, she was released on bail.

The same night as Parks had been arrested, the NAACP started planning on what would later be called the Montgomery Bus Boycott'''. '''The message of an boycott was spread in the surrounding black community, where black citizens were encouraged to abandon the municipal, segregated buses. Instead, they were suggested to stay home from school or work, alternatively taking cabs or walking.

A few days after the arrest, Parks' trial resulted in a fine on $10 as well as $4 in court costs. But the boycott was already in full swing, with a greater amount of participation than anyone would have expected. Through persistently walking well organized so-called car pools, a sort of own taxi system, members of the African-American community continued boycotting until change was quivering at the horizon, in November the following year. Quoting History.com;

" On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional; the                  boycott ended December 20, a day after the Court’s written order arrived in Montgomery".

But this had not been accomplished without troubles. For example, the homes of the front figures of the boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and E.D. Nixon, were attacked with bombs.

When being interviewed afterwards about her refusal, Parks said that “ I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."