The Bus Boycott

Part One · One Seat

In 1955, the city of Montgomery, Alabama, had a bus rule that was deeply unfair. Black riders had to sit in the back of the bus. If the front rows filled up with white riders, the driver could order Black riders to give up their seats and stand. This kind of rule kept people apart because of their skin color. It was called segregation. Many cities in the South had rules like it.

Rosa Parks was a Black woman who lived in Montgomery. She was forty-two years old, and she worked as a seamstress. A seamstress sews and fixes clothes for a living. She also helped lead the local chapter of a group that worked for fair treatment of Black Americans. She had thought about the unfair bus rule for many years. She had often felt tired of it. Now she was ready to stand up for what was right.

On the evening of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks finished her work and boarded a city bus to go home. She sat down in a row near the middle of the bus. As more riders got on, the driver noticed that a white passenger had no seat. He told her to stand up. She said no. She stayed where she was. She remained calm and quiet. The bus was crowded, as city buses often were after a long day of work.

The driver called the police, and Rosa Parks was arrested. It was a frightening night, but she was treated politely. She did not panic. Friends came to help her. One of them, a leader named E. D. Nixon, helped pay to get her out of jail. By the next morning, news of what had happened was spreading quickly across the city, because people in the Black community felt that it could have happened to any of them.

Black leaders in Montgomery decided that this was the time to act. A group of Black women called the Women's Political Council had already been planning a protest. Its leader was a teacher named Jo Ann Robinson. Late that night, she and her helpers printed thousands of flyers. They knew that every hour counted. The flyers asked everyone to stay off the city buses on Monday, the day of Rosa Parks's court date.

On Monday, December 5, Rosa Parks went to court. The judge found her guilty of breaking the bus rule and ordered her to pay a fine of fourteen dollars. But all across the city, something amazing was happening. The buses rolled through the streets almost empty, because so many riders had decided to stay off them. This was the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott, and nobody yet knew how long it would last.

Part Two · A City Walks

A boycott is when people refuse to use or buy something in order to bring about change. Most of the people who rode the buses in Montgomery were Black. If they stopped riding, the bus company would lose a great deal of money. The leaders knew that this could make the company listen. For the first time in many years, thousands of people stood together and said that the rule had to change.

That same evening, leaders formed a group to guide the protest. It was called the Montgomery Improvement Association. They chose a young minister to lead it. His name was Martin Luther King Jr., and he was only twenty-six years old. That night, he gave a speech at a church packed with people. He asked them to protest bravely and to stay peaceful, no matter what happened, because he believed that peaceful actions were the strongest way to win.

The boycott was hard on everyone. Many people needed the buses to get to their jobs. Now they had to find another way. Some walked for miles every day. Some rode bicycles. Others shared rides in cars. Black churches helped by setting up a system of volunteer drivers and pickup spots. Even when the weather turned cold and wet, the walkers kept going, because they believed that their effort was worth it.

The boycott went on for weeks, and then it went on for months. Some people in the city were angry about it. Some of the leaders were treated unfairly. But the people of Montgomery did not give up, and they continued to meet at churches every week to plan, to sing, and to encourage one another. Week after week, thousands of walkers continued their quiet protest. Their strength and patience showed the whole country what ordinary people could do together.

At the same time, a group of lawyers took the bus rule to court. They asked whether the rule was against the Constitution, which is the highest set of laws in the country, and whether any city had the right to keep it. The case traveled all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. This is the highest court in the land. In November of 1956, the Court agreed that having separate seats for Black and white riders on city buses was not allowed.

The boycott officially ended on December 20, 1956, after 381 days. The next day, Black and white riders sat side by side on Montgomery buses, and the long walk was finally over for the people of the city. Rosa Parks became known around the country as a symbol of courage. Her story reminds us that one calm choice can matter. When it is joined by the choices of many other people, it can change the way a whole city lives.