Almost two-thirds of Black women in Montgomery work as domestic servants for
white families, and almost half of all Black men are low-paid casual
laborers or domestic workers.
Under their rules, the front is reserved for whites, and
Blacks are sent to the back of the bus as is commonly the case throughout
the South. But in Montgomery, Black passengers have to board and pay their
fare at the front and then, not permitted to walk through the white section,
they must get off and walk to the rear door to reenter. Some drivers close
the doors and depart before Blacks who have paid their dimes can get back on
board. As the bus fills up, whites from the front, Blacks from the rear,
Blacks are not allowed to sit if it means that a white person has to stand.
If the white section is full, the entire front-most row of Blacks must
surrender their seats to create a new "white row." This often means that
Blacks have to stand in the rear while one white rider occupies a row with
three empty seats.
64,000 white and 43,000 Black residents are rigidly
segregated.
According to Montgomery
City Lines, 75% of their riders are Black, but many believe that the actual
number is higher.
Rosa Parks is secretary of the Montgomery NAACP and a registered voter. In
the words of Dr. King: "<i>Her character was impeccable and her dedication
deep-rooted. All of these traits together made her one of the most respected
people in the Negro community.</i>"
<i>False rumors were spread concerning the leaders of the movement. Negro
workers were told by their white employers that their leaders were only
concerned with making money out of the movement. Others were told that the
Negro leaders rode big cars while they walked. During this period the rumor
was spread that I had purchased a brand new Cadillac for myself and a Buick
station wagon for my wife. Of course none of this was true. ... there was
also an attempt to divide the leaders among themselves. Prominent white
citizens went to many of the older Negro preachers and said: "If there has
to be a protest, you should be the leaders. It is a shame for you, who have
been in the community for so many years, to have your own people overlook
you and choose these young upstarts to lead them." Certain members of the
white community tried to convince several of the other protest leaders that
the problem could be solved if I were out of the picture. "If one of you,"
they would say, "took over the leadership, things would change
overnight.</i> — Martin Luther King.
Use this quote for students - could they figure out why the establishment would float this story about King? Can they understand the complexity of the police City Fathers and Bus Company taking this action to try to break up the solidarity of the Montgomery Improvement Association?
Every black person would get a traffic ticket two and three times a week.
This shows students that the boycott came with struggle - it was not just the inconvenience of not riding the bus - it was the cost of paying traffic tickets that were not valid
Meanwhile, at a rally of the Montgomery chapter of the
White Citizens Council that draws 1,200 people, Police Commissioner Sellers
publicly joins the organization and pledges his allegiance to their creed of
white-supremacy.
One of the three "city fathers" - or commissioners of the city actually joins the White Citizens Council
On Saturday evening, January 21, a northern reporter tips off Dr. King that
a front-page article in next morning's <i>Montgomery Advertiser</i> is going
to claim that un-named "prominent" Black leaders have settled the boycott on
company terms and that all Blacks are to resume riding the buses Monday
morning
"Fake News" in 1956 - Montgomery newspaper floats a fake story that the Boycott is over in an attempt to fool blacks into getting back on the busses
Mayor Gayle tells the press that he and Commissioner Parks are following
Sellers into the White Citizens Council to make it
unanimous — all of Montgomery's elected leaders are now
members of an organization committed to maintaining white-supremacy in a
city that is 40% Black.
The other two council members join the WCC
Challenging Segregation in Federal Court
Do you wait for the Parks case to reach the Supreme Court, or do you get four others and just sue in federal court.
By mid-January the MIA office, Dr. King, E.D. Nixon and other boycott
leaders are receiving 30 to 40 threatening calls and letters a day:
Day after day the barrage of hate and threats wear down movement
leaders and takes emotional toll on their families
On Monday evening, January 30, a bomb is thrown at the King home on Jackson
Street, exploding on the porch.
If you have weapons, take them home, if you do not have them, please do
not seek to get them. We cannot solve this problem through retaliatory
violence. We must meet violence with nonviolence.
Two nights later another bomb is thrown at E.D. Nixon's home.
A week after Fred Gray files <i>Browder v Gayle</i>, his draft board
retaliates by revoking his minister's deferment.
The connections go far from the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Fred Gray, who filed the federal case, gets his draft deferment revoked by the sate, but the feds don't take him
Three days after the rally, a Grand Jury is set up to
investigate the boycott and issue indictments for violating an Alabama law
against conspiracies that interfere with private
businesses
On Tuesday, February 21st, a judge issues an injunction against the boycott
and the Grand Jury indicts 89 MIA leaders and carpool drivers for violating
the anti-boycott law.
Rather than go to the expense of trying all 89 defendants and then fighting
their appeals through state court, Alabama prosecutors try Dr. King as a
test case on March 19, 1956.
He immediately convicts Dr. King of violating the
anti-boycott law and fines him $500 (equal to $4,200 in 2012). King's
defense files an appeal:
<a href="http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_state_of_alabama_v_m_l_king_jr_1956_and_1960/" target="_blank">
State of Alabama v. Martin Luther King, Jr.</a> (When attorneys miss a
filing deadline in 1957, the appeal is dismissed on that technicality and
the fine is paid, but by this time the boycott has been won and bus
segregation ruled unconstitutional.)
On April 23rd, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in
<a href="http://openjurist.org/224/f2d/752/flemming-v-south-carolina-electric-and-gas-company" target="_blank">
<i>Fleming v South Carolina Electric & Gas</i></a> that bus segregation
laws in Columbia SC are unconstitutional.
Police Commissioner Sellers declares
that bus drivers who fail to enforce segregation will be arrested. The buses
remain segregated and the boycott carries on.
