The Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955-1960 Flashcards
What happened with Rosa Parks and the bus?
She was asked to move back in the bus because it was full of white people but she refused. The police was called and she was arrested
Where did the Rosa parks incident hapoen?
Montgomery Alabama
When did the Rosa Parks incident happen?
1st December 1955
What other factors may have started the montgomery bus boycott?
White bus drivers bulling black pasangers
There was lots of vivil rights groups in montgomery at the time
WPC was focusing on bus changes
What does WPC stand for?
Women’s Political Counsil
When was the WPC set up?
1946
Who became the new president of the WPC?
When?
1950
Jo Ann Robinson
How many black women had previosly refused to give up their seat before Parks?
5
Why was Park’s arrest special?
The number of people arrested was increasing whilst appeals to the bus companies were being ignored
Parks was a middle aged women who was respected and there was nothing shady about her
Parks was the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP
She knew how to behave as the face of a boycott
Whow as the leader of the NAACP youth counsil in Montgomery?
Rosa Parks
What happened immediatly after the arrest of Parks?
The WPC called for a 1 day boycott of the busses on the 5th of December
Was the 1 day boycott a sucsess?
Yes 90% people boycotted buses
What did the MIA stand for?
Montgomery Improvement Association
When was the MIA set up?
5th December 1955
What was the MIA’s aims?
Improve Black American’s lives
Who was he head of the MIA?
MLK
Why was MLK chosen for the head of the MIA?
he was new to montogery - had no enemies
He was a clergy man and was paid by the church
Well educated and belived strongly in Civil Rights
He belived in non-violence and made passionate speaches
He was christian
He was good at raising funds and getting publicity
What happened on the 8th December 1955?
Members of the MIA met with the bus company who refused to make any changes
The MIA agreed to continue the boycott until their demands were met
How did people get to work during the boycott?
Car pools
When did the first car pools start?
12th December 1955
Eventally how many cars were in the car lift?
Over 300
What happened on the 30th January 1956?
King’s home was bombed (with his family inside) as well as other churches
What did the bombing of king’s hime and other buildings do?
Increased publicity and make peopel sympathetic with King
What was the advantage of non violence?
It made the black people look like victums
Who was the main oposition to the boycott?
WCC grew
Mayor Gayle
KKK
What happened in January with the mayor
He joined the WCC
Who was the mayor of Montgomery?
Mayor Gayle
What type of arrests increased in January 1956?
Speeding (on black people)
What happened on the 22nd Febuary?
Leading to?
King and 88 other MIA members were arrested for disrupting lawful business
They were sent to jail
When did the 89 MIA members appeal the desision to send them to jail?
19th March
What was the verdict of MLK’s trial?
Guilty - he was to pay a fine of $500
What happened on the 1st Febuary 1956?
NAACP filed a court case to desegregate Montgomery
Brower v. Gayle
What was the MIA argument in the Brower court case?
What was this similar to?
14th Ammendment rights
The winning argument in the Brown case
Who was browder?
A women arrested for the same sort of crime as Parks
When dod the Browder V. Gayle case come on trial?
11 May
When did the Supreme Court give a rulign in the Browder case?
5th June
What was the ruling of the Browder case?
Buses shoud, desegregate
What haooened on the 13th November 1956?
The bus company appealed the desision to desegregate busses but the Supreme Court upheald the original decision
What haooened on the 17th December 1956?
A second appeal was rejected from the Supreme Court
What did the boycotters have to deal with?
Bombings
Threats
Loss of jobs or bank loans
Going to jail
What was the 3 main reasons why the mintgomery boycott suceded?
Organisation
Commitment
Publicity
How did organisation help the montgomery bus boycott succede?
MIA and WPC
people were well informed about the one day boycott hrough leafletsm local press and church services
Later events such as car pools
What was Jo Ann Robinson?
President of the WPC
Was a teacher (of English)
She and several of her students dropped of flyers to inform people of the boycot
Who was E. D. Nixon?
A NAACP member
Parks called him when she got arrested
Well respected an was good at rsising funds for the MIA
Who did Parks call when she got arrested?
E.D Nixon
Whoo was Ralph David Abernathy?
Was a clergyman and a NAACP member
When King left Montgomery he took over as the leader of the MIA
Who took over as the leader of the MIA after king left?
When?
Ralph David Abernathy
1959
What did King do when he saw that his hosie was bombed?
Looked inside and told the crowd that everyon was fine. He didn’t exibit any anger and tild the crowd to go home and remember their non-violence ways
Why was the Montgomery bus boycott important?
It showed black people could organise massive resistance
It brought MLK into the spotlight
It showed the importance of betting good publicity
Sparked other boycotts
It was where the rules of non-violence protests were first set out
It got sympathy as black people were being attacked
Where did the Montgomery bus boycott spark other boycotts?
Tallahassee in Florida
What happened after the boycott?
Buses were desegregated although bus stopped wern’t
White people were still very violent towards the people of Montgomery houses of MIA leaders continued to be firebombed
Shots were fored at people riding the buses
What happened to the bus service after re-opening as an intergrated service?
It had to be closed for a while (until things calmed down) because shots were being fired at people riding the buses
What happened to some people who bombed MIA’s member houses after the boycott?
7 WCC members were arrested but were latter cleared of all charges
When was the Civil Rights Act?
1950’s
1957
Who critisised the Civil Rights act?
A lot of people
Eisenhower himself said that change needed ot come from the people
What prevented the forst vote on the Civil Rights Bill?
Who?
What party?
A filibuster of 24 hours and 18 mins
Strom Thurmond
Dixicrat
What did the Civil Roghts act do?
Allowed courts to prosecute violations of voting rights
What did the Civil Roghts Act show?
That the government supported Civil Rights
Southern States could easy ignore it
What does the SCLC stand for?
Southern Christian Leadership Counsil
When was the SCLC set up?
January 1957
What did the SCLC do?
Coordinate church based protests around the south
Non-violence. Wanted desegregation
Wanted mass action
Wanted a broad-based black and white membership
Theu wanted to get enough black voters to have an impact on the 1958 and 60(presidential) elections
How long did the Montgomery bus boycott last?
381 days
Just over a year
When did the Montgomery bus boycott end?
20th December 1956
How did the SCLC help get voter regestration up?
Training local communities for the voter regestration tests
