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A newspaper in education Supplement to THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 28 • 2013
Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks, an African
American woman, was arrested after she refused
to move to the back of a bus, as required under
city law in Montgomery, Alabama, triggering the
citywide Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Rosa Parks was a seamstress by profession; she
was also the secretary for the Montgomery chap-
ter of the NAACP. Twelve years before her histo-
ry-making arrest, Parks was kept from boarding a
city bus. Driver James F. Blake took her payment
at the front door, ordered her off to board at the
back door, and then drove off without her.
On December 1, when all the seats on the bus
were full and a white man entered the bus, that
same driver Blake said to four black passengers,
"Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me
have those seats." Parks said "The driver wanted
us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move
at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these
seats.' And the other three people moved, but I
didn't."
Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she
did not get up to move to the newly repositioned
colored section. Blake said, "Why don't you stand
up?" Parks responded, "I don't think I should have
to stand up." …"When he saw me still sitting, he
asked if I was going to stand up, and I said, 'No,
I'm not.' And he said, 'Well, if you don't stand up,
I'm going to have to call the police and have you
arrested.' I said, 'You may do that.’” Blake called
the police.
When arrested "I asked the policeman why we
had to be pushed around? He said ‘I don't know,
but the law's the law, and you're under arrest.'”
(Source: Voices of Freedom, Bantam, New York,
1990, p. 19-20.)
Parks was charged with a violation of Chapter
6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery
City code, even though she technically had not
taken up a white-only seat—she had been in a
colored section. Edgar Nixon, president of the
Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and leader of
the Pullman Union, and her friend Clifford Durr
bailed Parks out of jail the evening of December
2. Found guilty on December 5, Parks was fined
$10 plus a court cost of $4, but she appealed, for-
mally challenged the legality of racial segregation,
which would go all the way to the Supreme Court.
On the night of Rosa Parks' arrest, the Wom-
en's Political Council, led by Jo Ann Robinson,
printed and circulated 35,000 flyers throughout
Montgomery's black community which read:
"Another 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 Negro, yet we are arrested, or have
to stand over empty seats. If we do not do some-
thing 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."
Parks was the ideal plaintiff for a test case
against city and state segregation laws, as she was
a responsible, mature woman with an excellent
reputation. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that
Mrs. Parks was regarded as "…not one of the fin-
est Negro citizens, but one of the finest citizens of
Montgomery.” Parks was married and employed,
possessed a quiet and dignified demeanor, and
was politically savvy.
Edgar Nixon asked her, “Mrs. Parks, with your
permission we can break down segregation on the
bus with your case…” Rosa’s mother gave support,
“I’ll go along with Mr. Nixon.” Her husband said,
“I’ll support it.” Mr. Nixon told his wife, “Baby,
we’re going to boycott the Montgomery buses.”
Nixon called 18 ministers, the first three being
Ralph D. Abernathy, Rev. H.H. Hubbard, who
said they’d go along with a bus boycott, and Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr., who had just started his
first ministry assignment at the Dexter Street Bap-
tist Church. King initially said, “Brother Nixon,
let me think about it a while and call me back.”
When he called back the response was, “Yeah,
Brother Nixon, I’ll go along with it.” Nixon replied, “I’m glad of that
Reverend King, because I talked to 18 other people, I told them to
meet at your church at 3 o’clock.”
On December 5th there was a mass meeting at the Holt Street
Baptist Church followed by a leadership meeting that established
the Montgomery Improvement Association. Nixon proposed Rev.
King as its leader, who humbly offered, “Well, I’m not sure I’m the
best person for this position, since I’m new in the community, but if
no one else is going to serve, I’d be glad to try.”
Twenty minutes later he gave his first speech of the boycott,
which included his first reference to non-violent action (excerpts):
“We are here…because of our love for democracy…the greatest
form of government on earth. But we are here in a specific sense
because of the bus situation in Montgomery. …There comes a time
when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of op-
pression. I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. We
have never done that…The only weapon that we have in our hands
this evening is the weapon of protest.”
"Taxi cabs agreed to give rides for 10 cents,” said Mrs. Parks.
“Get tough policy began by forcing cabs to charge 45 cents mini-
mum. Several persons have been fired from their jobs for not riding
the bus. Some for driving in the pool…
The people have walked when they could not get rides in the
most inclement weather. Many are still saying they will walk forever
before they will go back to riding the bus under the same condi-
tions…"
She knew on January 30, 1956 that, "We are really in the thick
of it now. Rev. King's home was bombed last night while we were in
the First Baptist Church mass meeting. His wife and baby were in
the house, but not hurt."
Rev. King and the community were not intimidated by the
bombing. King said, “We must meet violence with non-violence.”
In June 1956, the U.S. District Court ruled for the Montgomery
Improvement Association. The city appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which reaffirmed the decision that the segregation of Ala-
bama buses was unconstitutional. The decision took effect Decem-
ber 20, 1956, 381 days after Rosa Parks’ arrest.
Primary Source Activity:
The National Archives has digitized
records from the Rosa Parks case including her arrest records. Visit
to find a related
lesson plan including a helpful Document Analysis Worksheet.
Mrs. Rosa Parks being fingerprinted in Montgomery,
Alabama, 1956.
Credit: Library of Congress, New York World-Telegram and
Sun Collection
