Wanted Rosa Parks Age 43 Would not to
- Slides: 9
Wanted Rosa Parks Age: 43 Would not to give up her bus seat to a white man Montgomery, Alabama: December 1, 1955
Montgomery, Alabama 1955 POPULATION: 138, 000 Blacks made up 75% of the riders. The City Code of 1938: said negroes must sit in back. Blacks paid their fares by the front door and had to get off to enter by the back door.
Timeline of Events: December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks pays 10 cents to ride the Cleveland Avenue bus. She sits in Row 11 in the neutral section with three other blacks. A white man boards the full bus. No seats in the white section are available. The driver tells the four, "You let him have those front seats. " Parks refuses to give up her seat. She is arrested and jailed. December 2: Alabama State College Professor Jo Ann Robinson makes 50, 000 flyers calling for a one day bus boycott on December 5. Black ministers announce the boycott in their churches on Sunday.
The Boycott Begins… 100% of black riders refuse to ride the buses on Monday December 5: 5, 000 blacks crowd into Holt Street Baptist Church. A new, 26 year-old minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his 1 st public speech: "There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. ”
December 6 1955 to December 21, 1956: 95% of the African Americans refuse to ride buses. They walk or car pool and take taxis provided by black churches. Bus rates increase 50% to make up for the loss. Timeline continued… January 30, 1956: A small bomb explodes at Dr. King’s home. March, 1956: 156 protesters are arrested for "hindering" a bus. Dr. King is ordered to pay $500 or serve 386 days in jail. The move brought national, negative attention to the city.
Victory Boycott ends December 21, 1956 after 381 days. November 1956: The Supreme Court says segregation on city buses is unconstitutional. SUCCESS because 50, 000 blacks, representing 75% of the passengers, did not ride buses for 381 days. Bus companies lost 65% of their revenues. This act of passive civil disobedience marked the start of the Civil Rights Movement.
Rosa Parks was fired from her job and was forced to move Detroit, Michigan in 1957. Jo Ann Robinson left Alabama State College in 1960 and moved to Los Angeles where she taught high school. Dr. King led the Civil Rights Movement from December, 1955 to April, 1968 when he was brutally assassinated in Memphis. He lived his whole life in the South and dedicated his life to peace and brotherhood.
