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·How do you think people around the world who looked to the United States as a beacon of freedom might have felt and thought when they read about the boycott and the laws and practices that led to it?

·Why did the boycott succeed? Were the actions of both the citizens of Montgomery as well as those of the US Supreme Court necessary for its success?

·How would you now define discrimination and desegregation?

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·What actions do you think Rosa Parks was fed up with that led to her actions?

·How would you summarize the boycott in your own words, based on what you have learned?

·What facts would you select to show if you were informing people of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

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On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat so that white passengers could sit in it.

Rosa Parks's arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, during which the black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride the city's buses in protest over the bus system's policy of racial segregation. It was the first mass-action of the modern civil rights era, and served as an inspiration to other civil rights activists across the nation.

Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister who endorsed nonviolent civil disobedience, emerged as leader of the Boycott.

Following a November 1956 ruling by the Supreme Court that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, the bus boycott ended successfully. It had lasted 381 days.

Rosa Parks's arrest

Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama for failing to give up her bus seat-so that it would be available for white passengers-when instructed to do so by the bus's driver.

Parks was arrested at a time in American history when, under Jim Crow laws, African Americans faced discrimination and segregation across the South. Jim Crow bus laws in Montgomery at the time of Parks' arrest established a section for whites at the front of the bus, and a section for blacks in the back. The law required that when the white section filled, black passengers in the "colored section" give up their seats and move further back.

Rosa Parks was forty-two years old, married, regularly attended church, and worked as a seamstress in a downtown department store. She had also been active in her local chapter of the NAACP for more than a decade. Four days before her arrest she had attended a large meeting at which the August 1955 murder of Emmett Till had been discussed by a member of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership. She later recounted that Emmett Till was on her mind the evening of her arrest.

Origins of the bus boycott

Martin Luther King, Jr., a little-known, twenty-six year old Baptist minister with a doctorate from Boston University, led the boycott. During the boycott he began his rise to national and international prominence in the US Civil Rights Movement. Drawing on his study of nonviolent civil disobedience in the teachings of Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi, King delivered a message of nonviolent protest against racial injustice in eloquent, powerful sermons and speeches. On the boycott's first day, speaking before a crowd of more than 5,000 black citizens, he said:

The boycott succeeds

African American men, women, and children stopped taking the bus, and instead carpooled or walked to their destinations. Most bus riders had been African American, and with the precipitous decline in ridership, bus company revenues collapsed. The boycott became major news as the nation's television networks, newspapers, and major news magazines covered it.

The leaders of the boycott brought suit, demanding the end of segregation on public buses in Montgomery. The suit took months to make its way through the judicial system, but by mid-November 1956 the US Supreme Court-basing its decision on the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law-ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. The boycott was a success.

Many of the elements in the Montgomery Bus Boycott-organization, community solidarity, nonviolence, and the intervention of the federal government-proved to be the groundwork on which the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s would be based.

What do you think?

Why did the boycott succeed? Were the actions of both the citizens of Montgomery as well as those of the US Supreme Court necessary for its success?

How do you think people around the world who looked to the United States as a beacon of freedom might have felt and thought when they read about the boycott and the laws and practices that led to it?

What do you think led Rosa Parks to decide to take a stand against discrimination and segregation?

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The Montgomery Bus Boycott (article) | Khan Academy

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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·What information would you expect to see if you were to walk through this museum?

·Do you believe that this museum was a monumental step for Alabama?

·They have an exhibit that allows you to sit next to Rosa Parks statue, how might you have felt had you given up your seat while Mrs. Parks held firm in her conviction to keep her seat?

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Why would an organized bus boycott put economic strain on the city?

Have we, as a nation, attained what African-Americans demanded in 1955 Alabama? Why or why not?

The boycott lasted for 382 days, do you think you could have walked for that long?

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·We know that the first 10 seats of the bus were for whites, in the write up we see that the police officer said she was sitting in the white section. If we were to use the police write up and the seating chart would we agree or disagree with what the police officer wrote?

·Do you find it interesting that the police report has a place for race, but it described as complexion?

·Do you notice anything interesting as you analyze the police report?

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-How would you organize a non-violent protest today? What strategies and resources would you use that were not available in 1955?

· Do you think that MLK Jr. was the only African American arrested for the boycott?

·Why would prosecutors wish to convict Dr. King?

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·Do you think it was controversial for there to be a predominantly African American comic released so soon after the boycott took place?

·Have any of you ever heard of the Freedom Walk before? If not, what do we think was the purpose or intentions of this walk?

·Can you compare and contrast what we learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and what was said about Gandhi?

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·How do you think Rosa Parks felt when she refused to give up her seat?

·If you had been in her place would you have been a bystander, or would you have the courage to stay in your seat like Rosa Parks did?

·Do you think she knew the significance of her actions that day?

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·Why do you think they put African American in the back of the bus instead of the front?

·What kind of looks do you think she was getting when she refused to give up her seat?

·The bus driver believed that he had the right to move the line on the bus that separated black and whites, what do you think gave him that power?

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•Do you believe that this workshop was the reason she had to courage to stand up against the segregation of white and blacks?
•Do you think that the workshop was only African Americans or a mix? If it has been a mix of races, would you have gone?
·In her notes she writes “what constitutes leadership both Negro and White. Have roles of com made specific” What characteristics do we think make up a leader, based on people you know and that we have learned about?

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Why was separation of the races required (Section 10)?

How would you rewrite Sections 10 to conform with the ruling of the Supreme court?

On public transportation where you live, does separation of people occur without there being a written law? Do invisible lines and social boundaries exist? If so, what are they and why do they exist?

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What adjectives would you use to describe the emotion found in the cartoon?

How do the actions of the white man differ from that of the black man?

What is the cartoonist's message?

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Biography of the Bus Boycott. 382 days. 

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Biography of the Bus Boycott. 382 days. 

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Montgomery Bus Boycott |American Freedom Stories | Biography | History

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Montgomery Bus Boycott/ Rosa Parks Museum

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Montgomery Bus Boycott/ Rosa Parks Museum

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Filled with information, exhibits, and some artifacts from 1955 when the Montgomery bus boycott happened.

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Cartoon published right after the Boycott

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Cartoon published right after the Boycott

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https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblocks-history/fruits.html

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http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/rosa-parks-gallery/pdf/portrait.pdf

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The Police Report the day Rosa Parks was Arrested 

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The Police Report the day Rosa Parks was Arrested 

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Segregation Laws in Birmingham and Montgomery 

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Segregation Laws in Birmingham and Montgomery 

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Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement -- Example Segregation Laws

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Civil Rights Movement archive of segregation-related laws

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Published by the Fellowship Of Reconciliation around 1957-1958.

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Martin Luther King Jr. Arrest in February 1956. 

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Martin Luther King Jr. Arrest in February 1956. 

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http://mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/photo.php?display=item&oid=409

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Rosa Parks Before the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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Rosa Parks Before the Montgomery Bus Boycott