The Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Montgomery

Bus Boycott

  In 1955 buses were segregated in the United States. The law said black people must sit in the back of the bus.  If white people did not have a seat, the bus driver told black people to move.

On December 1, 1955, a black woman named Rosa Parks would not get up to give her seat to a white man. The police arrested her.

A black leader  named Martin Luther King said, “We must protest without violence .”

Every day the buses were filled with black people. If black people did not ride the buses, the bus company would lose money. Black people came together. The leaders  said, “We will boycott . Do not ride the bus on December 5.” 

90%  of the black people did not ride the buses that day. They walked, rode bikes, or carpooled  to work and school. Black people did not ride the buses for 381 days. 

The buses were empty. This hurt the bus company. They had to charge more money. They could not run all the buses.

Some white people were angry. They bombed  four churches and the home of Martin Luther King. They hurt black people walking to work. King was put in jail for two weeks for starting the boycott. King still wanted the protests to be non-violent. He said "We must love our white brothers, no matter what they do to us." 

On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court  said that segregation  on buses was not allowed. It was against the constitution . 

Black people started riding the bus again. They could sit anywhere on the bus. 

Click this link to listen to a song

about the bus boycott