Actual+Outcome

=Montgomery Bus Boycott= The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a major contribution to the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT in 1955, organized by the WOMEN'S POLITICAL COUNCIL, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE and the MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION. President of the NAACP, E.D NIXON and JO ANN ROBINSON came to the conclusion to boycott against the MONTGOMERY BUS SYSTEM after ROSA PARKS' arrest. "Many of the most significant decisions influencing not only the boycott, but also the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT of the 1950s and 1960s, were made behind the scenes between the time of Parks' arrest late that Thursday and the historic flood of events the following Monday" (Hare). Before the boycott, NIXON spent a great deal of time on the phone influencing important black activists such as MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., head of the MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION by boycott supporters to participate. This boycott was one of the first times that blacks refused to be treated as second class citizens. The boycott began on Monday December 5th and lasted for 13 months. It was led by MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., JO ANN ROBINSON, and E.D NIXON. __The success of this boycott was essential to the__ __CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.__ When the WPC, NAACP and MIA had the decision to boycott or not, they discussed the outcomes that the boycott could bring to the equality of African Americans. = When the decision was made to boycott, JO ANN ROBINSON distributed fliers throughout Montgomery that read: "Another Negro woman has been arrested and thrown in jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down. It is the second time since the CLAUDETTE COLVIN case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing. This has to be stopped. Negroes have rights, too, for if Negroes did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are Negroes, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother. This woman's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere on Monday. You can afford to stay out of school for one day if you have no other way to go except by bus. You can also afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off all buses Monday." (Hare). These fliers were distributed to spread awareness of the boycott to the black community. As the fliers were distributed, popularity and involvement grew; forty-two thousand African American men and women caught on to the bus strike, protesting segregation and racial discrimination. As the boycott grew and more joined, "some whites honored the boycott, but the mayor and local vigilantes sought to break [it] through intimidation and violence." (Sitkoff). = == __CLAUDETTE COLVIN, MARY LOUISE SMITH, ROSA PARKS and other black Americans that were forced to give up their seats on the bus due to the JIM CROW LAWS were regaining some of their rights. But, with the success of the boycott, came more lynching from whites.__ The most alarming of these lynching was the bombing of MARTIN LUTHER KING JR'S. and E.D NIXON'S homes. But the boycott wore on. __After thirteen months of the boycott, " the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on city buses was unconstitutional"(Mankiller).__ After this statement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott became a success. __Black Montgomery bus riders could sit wherever they wanted on the bus and so could other blacks in the nation after, as the court had decided, the bus system was "unconstitutional" (Mankiller). Also, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. had grabbed whites and blacks attention and popularity as, after this boycott, led fellow blacks to equality. This also inspired African Americans, to boycott and stand up for their full citizenship rights. After this boycott, blacks were encouraged to refuse the treatment that was set upon them by the JIM CROW LAWS. The Montgomery Bus Boycott sparked several other boycotts and strikes because it was the first boycott that contributed greatly to the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.__