The Success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott - Dissertation on African American Civil Rights Movement dated 2009
Preface
I always wondered how successful the African American civil rights movement became. I believe it began with the success of the Montgomery bus boycott, though this success did not continue throughout the civil rights movement. Problems arose in later protests in Birmingham and Selma and the leader of the movement Martin Luther King Jr. faced defeat, because of lack in organisation, waning support, and violence which ensued. I have written this dissertation to provide reasons for the success of the Montgomery bus boycott. It does not provide a factual account of the events of the Montgomery bus boycott, but in turn seeks to inform the reader about the integral elements that went into making the boycott a success. It is important to find out what made the Montgomery bus boycott a success, because it was the most successful protest in the civil rights movement, and because it functioned in a productive and dignified way. It resulted in the abolition of segregation laws in the south of the United States of America. Therefore by analysing what made the Montgomery bus boycott a success, this dissertation will identify the key elements that initiated and developed the boycott. This dissertation therefore provides insights into how the peaceful protest movement of the Montgomery bus boycott created change, in the law of the South, but also in the behaviour of society.
Introduction
Boycotting has been an instrument for political
assertion and cultural definition throughout the centuries of contemporary
history, and it is usually symbolic of an oppressive society. When the Montgomery bus boycott occurred over
a period of twelve months in the place known as ‘The Cradle of the Confederacy,’
a strong threat was made against Alabama state law. Racial segregation since 1900 could no longer
be tolerated by African Americans, “The problem has existed over endless years,”
exclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. on December 5th 1955.1 The Montgomery bus boycott was a pivotal
turning point for the civil rights movement in the United States of
America. Freedom and morality prevailed
when segregation on buses became noticeably unjust. Confrontations between African American
passengers and bus conductors steadily increased, and gradually they started to
believe in their moral obligation, no matter the consequence. Oppressed African Americans did not want to
depend on the government to create change which squashed their civil rights,
they had discovered an opportunity to resolve racial discrimination by
contending white officials, and doing it through their own unity. Although this success can be attributed to
the social evolution of American society, the awareness of racism obtained from
the peaceful non-cooperative and non-violent protest, encouraged African
Americans and white liberals to strive for libertarianism. To achieve this goal Martin Luther King Jr.
adapted the movement strategies of Gandhi, as well as, using Thoreau’s Civil
Disobedience and Christian doctrine that he preached. However the activist plans before the boycott
cannot be over sighted, because it essentially laid the foundations for the
boycott. This is in reference to the
organisational talents of Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon and JoAnn Robinson, whose
efforts to fight segregation were extensive and motivational for African
American people. Their spirit and
innovation made them icons for the protest, and this in turn made them
forerunners of the boycott. The success
of the Montgomery bus boycott can be analysed in several ways: Firstly the
success being due to the physical action of certain individuals; secondly the
ideologies which stimulated the boycott; thirdly the unity of African American
people, and how they collaborated with one another to obtain racial equality;
and also white Americans accepting change, in regards to segregation on buses
and African American civil rights. These
four aspects I have discovered to be helpful when critiquing the success of the
Montgomery bus boycott.
1.
The action of certain individuals: Rosa Parks, E.D Nixon, JoAnn Robinson and
Martin Luther King Jr.
Rosa L. Parks
The story of Rosa Parks has lived on in American
memory as being the stimulus for the Montgomery bus boycott. She was born in Tuskagee Alabama 4th
February 1913 and she regularly took the bus in Montgomery from where she
worked in the department store, Montgomery Fair. When she refused to give her seat up on the
bus, African Americans were enlivened by her sense of civic duty, “When Mrs.
Parks got arrested that was the last straw.”2 Her account in My Soul is Rested gives
her opinion on the events as it took place, 1st December 1955. Her arrest as she describes was unlawful
because she was not seated in the white section but still told to move, “I saw
there was only one vacancy that was just back of where it was considered the
white section.”3 However white
officials and the bus conductor argued she should have still moved when she was
asked. Rosa Parks lived in Montgomery
for her whole life, she was a devoted Christian and was secretary to the Civic
Improvement League. In the minds of
African Americans there was no reason for why, ‘this fine, Christian woman of
integrity and character was arrested and carried to jail.”4 Rosa Parks joined the National Association
for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in 1945. Her involvement in the organisation inspired
her to take the opportunity to voice her
concerns over racial segregation. As she
was a credible witness, and seen as part of the emerging African American
middle class, she was suited to make a case against the Jim Crow law with the
NAACP. Her mother was a rural
schoolteacher and her father was a carpenter, and she was a skilled seamstress,
though a known civil rights activist.
Steven M. Millner describes Rosa Parks, “Rosa MacCauley Parks of the
mid-1950’s should be viewed as one who shared several characteristics that
typified the life-style of those previously referred to as Montgomery’s
emerging black middle-class.”5
Her case was presented to the Alabama court, and the verdict was given
guilty which civil rights activists such as Rosa Parks had wanted, because it
gave them greater motivation to begin their protest for a cause they saw was
not going to be resolved by a non-guilty verdict, as further cases would have
arisen in a country continuing segregation laws. However it was the integrity of Rosa Parks
which allowed the issue of racial segregation to be noticed by Montgomery and
the state, because hers was the last refusal on a segregated bus and because it
helped the Montgomery bus boycott to ensue, “For all the community’s Negroes,
Mrs. Parks’ arrest was the determining blow.”6 Other passengers, such as Browder, McDonald,
Colvin, and Smith had previously refused the demands of bus conductors,
resulting in certain cases which were won but overall politically ignored. The good demeanour and moral outlook of Rosa
Parks emphasised her injustice and it encouraged African American people in
Montgomery to strive in protest for desegregation and further civil
rights. This eventually led to a
re-trial in 1956 for a previous case, which was known as, ‘Browder vs. Gayle.’ Rosa Parks is still remembered after her
death. Barack Obama said at her funeral
service 2nd November 2005, “When the history of this country is
written, it is this small, quiet woman, whose name will be remembered long
after the names of senators and presidents have been forgotten.”7
E.D. Nixon
Edgar Daniel Nixon was important to Montgomery African
Americans because even before the case of Rosa Parks, he was fighting for
African American voters rights. He led
750 African Americans in a march in June 1954 to the Montgomery county
courthouse. Due to this, By 1955 7.55%
of the city’s 22,210 citizens were registered African American voters.8 Nixon was therefore significant to the
progression of anti-discrimination in Montgomery. Robinson mentions in her memoir, “In
Montgomery, Mr Nixon was a vital force to be reckoned with.”9
Nixon was born 12th July 1899 in Montgomery and he stood for African
American civil rights, devoting his time to helping those who were racially
discriminated against by white policeman, and white officials, “When violations
of human rights occurred, the victims involved would telephone Mr. Nixon, and
he would go to their rescue.”10 He was president of the NAACP and the
International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, though it was through the
NAACP that he did most of his work for racial equality. He was also president of the Progressive
Democratic Association. Robinson states,
“The Progressive Democratic Association, of which E.D. Nixon was president, was
an old, and well-established organisation of black leaders, men and women. Some of the best political minds in
Montgomery were in this group.”11 Nixon publicly established himself in the
late 1940’s and 1950’s as a civil rights activist, “demanding amelioration of
conditions for blacks.”12 He
made himself a public symbol for racial equality in Montgomery and this gave
him much support from African American communities, thus support later in the
boycott. He identified the prospect of
working with JoAnn Robinson, to publicise and commit people to the Montgomery
bus boycott, collaborating with the Women‘s Political Council for the same
goal. He also found hope and resolution
in Rosa Parks, considering the African American lifestyle in Montgomery always
consisted of segregation, and that she represented the public outcry. He therefore states in My Soul Is Rested
that he decided, “We’re going to boycott the buses.”13 In doing so, he contacted local African
American priests, such as, Abernathy, King, and Hubbard, exciting them about
the prospects of the bus boycott. Nixon
produced leaflets regarding the bus boycott, urging African Americans to stop
riding the buses in Montgomery. He
entrusted the local newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser, to write an
article publicising the boycott and its aims.
He was also treasurer for the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
which carried the full force of the boycott, and it was this organisation he
said he helped to establish, “E.D Nixon had always claimed that he was a ‘founding
father’ of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), and a major
contributor to the Montgomery bus boycott.”14 It was these
efforts which united the African American people to continue the Montgomery bus
boycott as long as it did, and it was these efforts which organised the roles
of those whom made it possible.
JoAnn Robinson
JoAnn Robinson joined the Women’s Political Council
(WPC) in 1949 and later succeeded Dr. Mary Fair Burks as president, as a way of
dealing with segregation on buses.
Robinson’s account of her role in
the Montgomery bus boycott sheds light on the organisation of the protest and
the ingenuity of the WPC, “We women prepared the notices calling riders off the
buses. We distributed those notices, and
then, when the ministers took over, we worked with them until the very end.”15 On 4th December 1955 Robinson
mimeographed thirty-thousand leaflets asking Africa Americans to join the boycott. One leaflet read, “Please stay off all buses on Monday.”16 Robinson’s role was integral because she was
present at many of the meetings, particularly at the beginning of the
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), when she “nominated Rufus Lewis as
chairmanship of this group.”17 The members of the WPC were local to Alabama
State College where Robinson was a professor of English. Most of the members were professional women,
such as, teachers, supervisors and social workers. Fred D. Gray was a student at Alabama State
College and knew of Robinson’s bad experiences on the buses. One incident he recalls, “She was afraid he
would hit her, so she got off the bus.”18 Robinson sat in the middle of a bus which had
only two other passengers, but this antagonised the bus conductor. Being an African American woman in 1955 was
difficult, as it meant the discrimination of gender but also race. Therefore being part of an organisation for
women who were dedicated to eliminating bus segregation was jeopardising and
dangerous, because it meant they faced prejudice from southern whites. Robinson also belonged to the Ten Times One
is Ten Club, which was the oldest African American women’s federated club in
Montgomery. Gray states, “The members of
that club were the pillars of African American society in Montgomery.”19 Like E.D. Nixon, Robinson assisted the
African American community through different organisations, encouraging African
Americans to boycott. The origins of the
idea for the boycott came from the WPC, “The black Women’s Political Council
had been planning the boycott of Montgomery City Lines for months, but the
plans had only been known publicly for the past three days.”20 Fairclough writes, “The moment she learned of Mrs. Parks’
arrest, she enlisted the Women’s Political Council to spread the word.” Robinson’s work for the boycott increased
when Rosa Parks was arrested. However
Garrow states, “Robinsons hints about a boycott were not supported by any
unified sentiment in the black community.”21 When Robinson began running the idea of a
boycott not many people agreed.
Therefore E.D Nixon participated in encouraging the boycott to happen,
though JoAnn Robinson and the WPC invoked African Americans to boycott and
continue it until Montgomery came to a resolution, because they constantly
received complaints on the conditions of the buses, so much that the
organisation had to pass on the complaints to other civic organisations. The WPC was the one organisation that
established itself as being for desegregation on buses before the boycott, and
therefore proves to be essential to the Montgomery bus boycott, because it
always supported the idea. Previous to
E.D Nixon or King, JoAnn Robinson had identified the cause and importance of
desegregation on buses, which intensified after the case of Rosa Parks. Perhaps because she was a woman her role was
minimised to the creation of the idea, yet her struggle did not go unheard,
because the voices of E.D Nixon and King, followed in her beginning, as well
as, the people of Montgomery.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a student at Crozer College
and Charles Batten, the Dean of Crozer in the spring of 1951 said he was, “one
of the most brilliant students we have had.”22 Following in his father‘s profession he
became a Baptist preacher. He entered
Montgomery September 1954 as the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist
Church. He knew of the public urgency
for a speaker to voice the African American opinion on racial equality, though
he also knew of the dangers it involved.
However king was a community leader and endeavoured to help African
Americans any way he could, even though he was apprehensive about E.D. Nixon’s
request to join in the protest when Rosa Parks had been arrested. However after King’s first child was born and
he gained his degree, on 17th November 1955 he accepted working with
E.D. Nixon on the campaign, “Brother Nixon, I am not a coward,”23
claimed King. Thus King was voted
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). King’s persona reached out to middle class
African Americans, as well as, frequent right-wing church goers. King announced African Americans were, “tired
of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression…tired of being plunged
into the abyss of humiliation.”24 He was able to unite the
African American people through his rhetoric and make them realise the cause
they were fighting was worthwhile, “If we are wrong, justice is a lie.”25 He also identified with the white Christian
community, “King was indicting the white Christian community with the words of
Jesus himself.”26
People believed he was a messenger of God, who had the ability to change
the attitudes of white southerners.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an extremely powerful orator. His ability to influence his listeners infused
the passion of those driving him, such as, E.D. Nixon, JoAnn Robinson and Rosa
Parks. He worked for peaceful
reconciliation between the dominant white government and oppressed African
Americans, through his spirited battle for desegregation on buses. He also
addressed working class people and therefore connected with them through their
labour unions, encouraging them to refuse being, “trampled on by capitalistic
power.”27 The boycott
required a leader who had no previous ties to the political activism in
Montgomery. Nixon said King, “had not
been in Montgomery long enough for the city fathers to put a hand on him.”28 King was therefore put in the limelight to
represent the growing distress of African Americans, “King was more suited to
the task of mobilization.”29 He
suffered because of his limelight, having his house bombed, 30th
January 1956, “A stick of dynamite exploded on the King family’s porch,” wrote
Joe Azbell in the Montgomery Advertiser.30 Yet King was not distraught by the bombers
and continued his campaign, due to his commitment, faith, and desire to seek
social rectitude. At the age of
twenty-six King was submerged in the civil rights movement until his death on 4th
April 1968.
King, Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, and JoAnn Robinson were
integral to the Montgomery bus boycott’s success, because they influenced
people to believe in the campaign and managed the boycott into the most
memorable protest in African American history.
The deep soulful exertions of each participant enmeshed to create a
unified and dignified response out of the boycott. Nixon, Parks, and Robinson laid the
foundations for the boycott because of their previous civic work, and King
mobilised the boycott, beginning the African American civil rights movement.
2.
The ideologies that drove the Montgomery bus boycott: Gandhi, Thoreau, and
Christianity.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s scholarly approach to the
Montgomery bus boycott emphasised the reality of the racial crisis in
America. He built upon the work of
Ghandi, Thoreau, and the Bible, to identify with the educated class, which
assisted in the productivity of the boycott and civil rights movement. He implored non-violent and non-cooperative
protest was a way to deal with the distrust and hate white Americans had for
African Americans. In doing so, he
determined the direction for freedom and justice was through the minds of
thinkers like Thoreau and Gandhi.
Thoreau’s idea of civil disobedience was necessary to the boycott
because it justified non-cooperative campaigns produced a dignified result in
society. Gandhi wrote on the
implementation of civil disobedience and demonstrated such protests could be
successful. King also used biblical
teaching to put the African protest in religious context, which was important
to the civil rights following because the boycott functioned through the
Christian community.
In
King’s autobiography Stride Toward Freedom, he clarifies that Jesus was
the force and motivation for the Montgomery bus boycott. 31
The importance of African American churches created a religious following for
the boycott and its aims. King insisted being, “Christian in all our actions.”32 The biblical idea of suffering for the
benefit of humanity was understood as a necessary plight. In addition, the Christian idea of ‘loving
your enemies’ even when oppressed was crucial to the understanding of the
boycott, because it meant non-violence was maintained.33 King spoke to a congregation at a meeting in
Holt Street Baptist Church, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and
pray for them that despitefully use you.”34 King supported this notion by referencing the
Greek New Testament, speaking on the idea of agape, meaning
unconditional love, and love for all humankind.35 He also paralleled the exodus story with the
African American struggle for liberty, as he says in Stride toward freedom,
“Almost 2800 years ago Moses set out to lead the children of Israel from
the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land.”36 The story of Moses and the Israelites
provided African American Christians with hope and courage in their effort to
battle a deplored racially segregated country.
King used the Bible to strengthen his movement even in times of trouble,
saying, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” when his audience had
to be given moral and spiritual guidance after reverend Fields’ statement, “the
many are exploited by the few.”37 Despite such weakening moments during the
boycott Christian appeal rectified the problem.
The Christian objective was to obtain racial harmony through the belief
in Jesus and God, which was gained from the Bible, and this was found in
church. Several thousand African
Americans gathered inside Holt Street Baptist Church on 5th December
1955 for the first Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) meeting with the
intention to continue the boycott.
Churches accommodated much of the boycott‘s organisation and appeal,
housing the MIA and the priests who preached the boycott’s aims, such as,
Hubbard and Abernathy, “ministers announced plans from their pulpit.”38 In light of this, four churches important to
the boycott were bombed, Bell Street Baptist, Hutchinson Street Baptist, First
Baptist, and Mount Olive Baptist. This
embodied the Christian idea of suffering for the cause of African American
civil rights, and therefore the ongoing thrust of the boycott remained
intact. The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
was significant to the Montgomery bus boycott because it was a meeting place
for its initial leaders. Millner says, “Dexter
Avenue Baptist Church was and remains black Montgomery’s most prestigious
religious institution.”39
Christianity symbolised the boycott to be a production of God’s divine
intervention, and therefore provided boycotters and some onlookers with a deep
sense of religious understanding.
King
used the movement strategy of Gandhi by learning and implementing the idea of Satyagraha
(meaning Truth-force or Love-force), he did this by associating its
function with Christianity, “I came to see that the Christian doctrine of love
operating through the Gandhian method of non-violence was one of the most
potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.”40 He adopted Gandhi’s principle that spiritual
and emotional strength was more powerful than physical or aggressive strength,
to sway suppressors that they were mistaken.41 Non-violence was unique and fundamental from
the outset of the Montgomery bus boycott, which can be attributed to the work
of Gandhi because African American civic leaders described their protest to be
similar to his, “a movement of passive resistance depending on moral and
spiritual forces.”42
Peaceful reconciliation between Americans, gained from non-violent
protest, highlighted the African American reason for desegregation in
Montgomery, was because they disregarded civic approval on racist issues like
segregation. King quoted Gandhi on
occasion during the boycott, “Rivers of blood may have to flow before we gain
our freedom, but it must be our blood.”43 Saying this, King concerned himself with the
idea that the struggle for freedom was so vital and necessary, enduring pain
from the oppressors emphasised the spiritual harm the oppressors caused
themselves, and despite the physical damage this may have caused some African
Americans, their spirit would have remained strong and intact. “The non-violent resistor seeks to lift or
rather to change the opponent, to redeem him.”44 It encouraged the African American boycott
because it showed they did not fear the oppressive brute force of the police
and that they strived to resolve segregation without violence. This ensured violence from both white Americans
and African Americans was minimal, making the Montgomery bus boycott the most
peaceful protest in the civil rights movement, particularly in comparison to
the Birmingham or Selma protests. Gandhi’s
method of non-violent protest which he begun in South Africa 1924 was revived
in Montgomery and functioned the way Gandhi had written. Stanton writes, “Gandhi was still very much
alive in the popular imagination after his recent (1948) assassination. His was exactly the image King wanted to
project.”45 Juliette Morgan
identified King’s protest movement to be similar to Gandhi’s salt march, “King
found her analogy with Gandhi’s salt march more compelling than the one his
colleagues preferred, that of Moses leading the children of Israel out of
bondage.”46 King saw Gandhi’s
struggle against colonialism related to the African American struggle against
imperialism. He intended to educate
people about racial equality by understanding his oppressors and communicating
African American dissatisfaction through the protest movement.
Thoreau’s
Civil Disobedience encouraged King to raise his protest beyond the
restraints of a subjugating government, to strengthen the message on civil rights
as Charles R. Lawrence mentioned to King in a letter, “You are especially right
to point out that this is not a Negro-White conflict but rather a struggle
against injustice and for human dignity.”47 Thoreau argued the sham of the United States
of America and its poor enforcement of
its constitution decreased social equality and rendered people dissatisfied. A Testament of Hope mentions when King
decided to use Thoreau, “The bus company being an external expression of the
system, would naturally suffer, but the basic aim was to refuse to cooperate
with evil. At this point I began to
think about Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience.”48 Therefore King’s inspiration to continue the
boycott came from Thoreau. The first
line of Thoreau’s essay defines his argument, “I heartily accept the motto, - ‘That
government is best which governs least,’
and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.”49 Thoreau’s criticism of the government
supported reasons for the Montgomery bus boycott. He identified the theme of civil disobedience
when he was thrown in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax and decided, “if
the government is wrong the least a man can do is refuse to cooperate with it.”50 Using Thoreau’s form of non-cooperative
protest in the Montgomery bus boycott therefore instilled disappointment and
distrust in the nation, because it showed people were unhappy with the
government.
Non-violence and non-cooperation were the parameters
for the Montgomery bus boycott. This was
greatly influenced by the writing of Thoreau and Gandhi because their own
experiences of an oppressive society put the African American struggle in
Montgomery in a moral perspective.
Juliette Morgan said the bus boycotters have, “taken a lesson from
Gandhi, and from our own Thoreau.”51 However King preached the application of
their movement strategies through the relationship the two thinkers made with
Christianity, which strengthened the Christian community to persevere in the
boycott. The ideologies of the
Montgomery bus boycott was therefore an integral element to its success,
because it transcended to the educated classes and popularised the reason for
the boycott. “The ideology of the
movement of Montgomery provided it with a philosophy and psychology. It gave the movement a set of values,
convictions, criticisms, arguments and defences in respect to direction,
justification, weapons of attack, and inspiration.”52
3.
Unity Of African Americans
The unity of African Americans reflected their drive
and determination to have desegregated buses.
Throughout the boycott, songs, food sales, and speeches, impassioned
African Americans against racist slander.
The simple message was that they were not going to be treated any
differently to white Americans on the buses, which was a further step to
reaching a desegregated country. African
Americans were in unison with one another, through the joys and the pitfalls of
the boycott. Their main objective was to
defeat the segregated transport system.
African American passengers endured much discrimination on buses. They were frequently tired and exhausted when
they took the bus, but were not allowed to sit in the reserved sections for
white passengers, “Hurting feet, tired bodies, empty stomachs often tempted
them to sit down. Names like ‘black nigger’, ‘black bitches’, ‘heifers’, ‘whores’,
and so on, brought them to their feet again.”53 The abuse African Americans received aroused
their spirit and moral obligation to contend segregation on buses, “They simply
could not take anymore. They were ready to boycott.”54 Therefore on 5th December 1955,
the African Americans of Montgomery, “who made up forty percent of the town’s
population but about seventy percent of the paying bus traffic,”55
boycotted the buses together.
Joe
Azbell was a white newspaper reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser, he
wrote about the unity of African Americans during the boycott, writing about
their resounding songs and powerful prayers that, “thundered through the
church.”56 His comments identified the sense of African American
togetherness, in their religion, and in their struggle to desegregate buses,
because their faith brought them closer to God and closer to success in the
boycott. Azbell’s article on 7th
December 1955 admitted, “There was a discipline among Negroes which whites were
not aware of.”57 Thus African Americans surprised white
Americans with their dedication and faith.
Joe Azbell reported much of the Boycott’s progression and though his
sympathy for African Americans jeopardised his career, he continued to write
about the boycott.
The
African American boycotters joined to organise a car pool system enabling
people who needed to travel. However Police
Commissioner Sellers threatened African Americans waiting for car pool rides,
and he put more scrutiny on the drivers.
Drivers were constantly stopped by white officers, having their car
checked for the slightest problems, such as a taillights, windscreen wipers, or
headlights, which always incurred a fine.
B.J Simms ran the car pool and soon after the MIA bought new station
wagons, as part of church property, and though this helped those who did not
want to walk, there were still keen demonstrators who displayed their pride in
not taking the bus, by walking everyday in rain or sun. A great example of this is Old Mother
Pollard, when King asked if her feet was tired, she answered, “My feet is
tired, but my soul is rested.”58 This signified the enormous African American
conviction, because they were focused on achieving victory in the Montgomery
bus boycott. By sticking to their
principles and not taking the bus, the transport economy declined, leaving
Montgomery in a desperate economic situation.
The city commissioners tried to
unearth information on the boycott but boycotters did not tell them the truth.
They gave excuses for not taking the bus instead of revealing they were part of
the boycott, saying that they, “just stays of the buses and leaves that boycott
alone.”59 For a time African
Americans were winning in their efforts to boycott, though this did not
continue, because of discriminatory comments from white Americans, “You niggers
are getting yourself in a bad place.”60 Also because the boycott lasted so long that
the threat of rain made them weary, “Isn’t this boycott terrible?”61 African Americans were disheartened and each
day they grew disgruntled. They had to
walked in the rain, and some students thought about taking the bus if it continued
to rain, but the rain stopped and the boycott continued. Mayor Gayle thought, “the first rainy day the
niggers would be back on the buses,”62 but the boycott
continued. However the upheaval created
by King’s arrest for speeding on 26th January 1956, meant African
Americans were displeased by the turn the boycott had taken, “I’m so mad I don’t
know what to do.”63 African Americans were satisfied in their
boycott because of the political protest they were making, but because they
started to feel the strains of the boycott, being taunted by racists and being
drenched in the rain, as well as, having their protest leader arrested, they
had to find the strength to continue battling for their freedom. This was obtained through their spiritual
stamina which kept the boycott going, because their aim united them as
Americans. When ninety-three people were
arrested in February 1956 for defying state law, twenty-four of those people
were ministers. They did not use
violence or aggression, they went willingly, content they were arrested for the
right reasons. Thurgood Marshall was
General Counsel for the NAACP and stated, “up until the indictment was handed
down by the Montgomery County Grand Jury, there was a local problem growing out
of the spontaneous resentment of the people.
Now it has become our case and we intend to fight it.”64 African Americans felt dignified by their
arrest and some were even displeased they were not arrested, because it marked
their power struggle.
At
Christmas boycotters continued their protest, singing a song which is now
emblematic of the Montgomery bus boycott:
Ain’t
gonna ride them buses no more
Ain’t
gonna ride no more
Why
in the hell don’t the white folk know
That
I ain’t gonna ride no more. 65
The simple phraseology of the song reiterated the
African American purpose and resilience against a repressive society. African Americans chanting this song
demonstrated their unity in the boycott and it was the message of, ‘Ain’t gonna
ride,’ which altered opinions and emphasised the year long struggle, from 1st
December 1955 to 22nd December 1956.
Another song was also sung in mass meetings:
We
are moving on to Victory,
We are moving on to Victory,
We
are moving on to Victory,
With
hope and Dignity
We
will all stand together…
Until
we are all free
Black
and white both are brothers…
To
live in harmony. 66
The words to this song were sung to the tune of ‘Give
Me That Old Time Religion’, and it emphasised the dedication and involvement
African Americans had for the boycott because of their religion. Their belief in God and trust in each other
pushed them to work hard for the boycott.
The song illustrated the need for unity between African Americans and
white Americans, ‘To live in harmony’.
The idea of ‘victory’ repeated in the first three lines was dependant
upon United States of America recognising the brotherhood of humankind, and for
Americans to cast aside their racial differences. Additionally, in his book White preacher’s
message on race and reconciliation Reverend Graetz recalls the song which
he thought identified the Montgomery bus boycott the most:
Ain’t
gonna let nobody turn me ‘round,
Turn
me ‘round, turn me ‘round,
Ain’t
gonna let nobody turn me ‘round,
Keep
on a-walking; keep on a-talking;
Marching
up to Freedom’s Land.67
‘Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘round’ is the
repetitive statement in this song, creating strong resistance to the
oppressors, African Americans would have sung this song to keep their spirits
high and motivate them in their protest.
The words ‘keep on’ emphasised the African American drive and
persistence in the bus boycott, because they wanted the end result to be their ‘freedom’. Singing songs African Americans were
enlivened by their sense of civic duty, which encouraged the struggle for
desegregation and civil rights. They did
not want to feel continuously downtrodden, and such songs sung together, made
them closer and more unified in their efforts for desegregation.
The
Montgomery bus boycott was the most successful African American boycott,
because when it occurred, emerging middle-class African Americans were able to
support its progressive momentum, through financial support. The economic strength behind the boycott
pushed its aims further than white Americans anticipated. The financing of the
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) began with Mrs. Georgia Gilmore who
ran food sales to fund the boycott. The
collection taken at the first MIA meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church,
gathered two-thousand dollars. “The spirit of giving was never more generous,
and people gave their money proudly.”68 The boycott was expensive and the MIA needed
more money. In response to this, Gilmore’s
food sale club, ‘The Club from Nowhere,’ had a friendly competitor group known
as, ‘The Friendly Club,’ started by Mrs. Inez Ricks. The two groups competed to win the most money
each week and this helped to finance the boycott. At each MIA meeting the winner was announced
and this also provided the boycotters with entertainment, which eased the
stress they had from the boycott. The
unity and financial support of these two groups gave African American
boycotters courage and morale. Bayard
Rustin wrote, “the high level of moral and ethical motivation, all combined to
give the closed mind of white southerners an airing it has never before had.”69
The
unity of African Americans was therefore an integral element to the Montgomery
bus boycott’s success, because they worked together to produce a well-organised
boycott, which implicated their concerns over racial segregation on buses. Each African American in Montgomery was vital
to making the boycott a success, because they influenced each other, through
the songs they sang, to the words they spoke, and the actions they made. Their unity was essential to the boycott
because they encouraged each other.
African Americans of Montgomery wanted a solution to segregated buses,
and this they knew was obtainable through their own struggle, their own
endeavours, and their own blood, sweat, and tears.
4.
White Americans Accept Change
When critiquing the success of the Montgomery bus
boycott, the action of white liberals must not be overlooked. There were white Americans in Montgomery at
the time of the boycott who favoured African American civil rights, such as
Reverend Glenn E. Smiley and Joe Azbell.
Smiley’s main political answer to segregation and civil rights was
non-violence and this was an ideology he encouraged Martin Luther King Jr. to
adopt. In doing so, he worked with King
and shared his views with him, in an attempt to create a peaceful racially
accepting nation. There were other white
liberal respondents to the boycott who wrote letters and wavered popular racist
attitudes, however accounts of this communicated verbally are uncommon. Yet the written testimonies and suggestions
of white liberals inspired hope for the dignity of American society. Dykeman wrote about a woman who spoke on the divided opinion in
the South in his book Neither Black nor white:.
“I
know there are many people, many southerners, who feel as I do. It’s just that when it comes to signing their
names to something that they back down.
I can sympathise with them. The
cuts from old friends the ringing telephone with anonymous voices; I know how
it feels when the butterflies in your stomach start turning to buzzards.” 70
Smiley
was a minister and related to King on Christian grounds, but also supported the
idea that non-violence was a key to unlocking racial discrimination in
Montgomery. He was, “A native of Texas
and a devout believer in Gandhian non-violence.”71 Washington writes in A Testament of Hope,
“Reverend Glenn E. Smiley, a white minister, was responsible for helping King
produce these reflections on the use of non-violent resistance in Montgomery.”72 The reflections King made signified
non-violent passive resistance was a tactical political retaliation against
degrading segregation laws. The
Montgomery bus boycott was a peaceful non-violent protest designed to enlighten
the hearts and minds of the boycotters, but also white American onlookers who
did not see the reason for the boycott and saw it as unnecessary, because of
their racial hate produced over years of historical African American
slavery. When Smiley first talked to
King about Gandhi King admitted, “I will have to say that I know very little
about the man.”73
Smiley informed King that Gandhi’s method of protest was to oppose evil
by not reacting to its force in awareness that, “the law of retaliation is the
law of the multiplication of evil.”74 King was fascinated in the idea and knew he
had to speak more with Smiley on the issue, “Glenn Smiley separately tutored
King in Gandhian non-violence.”75 Smiley was introduced to King through Bayard
Rustin who had to flee Montgomery when his life was being threatened. “Glenn Smiley, the replacement, came into
town and received a hurried, rather sad briefing from the departing Rustin,
whom he had known for fifteen years.”76 After segregation on buses was decided
unlawful by the U.S district courts, Smiley boarded a bus with King for the
first desegregated bus ride. Smiley
supported King in his movements during the boycott, signifying his role in its
success as a white American. Smiley was
national field secretary to the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and he
worked alongside Rustin in this organisation.
His visits to Montgomery were sudden, sometimes late at night, and
urgent because he and King devised plans and tactics for the boycott. King was content to receive outside help from
educated people who supported African Americans and Smiley was always welcome
in King‘s home, “He wants help, and we can give it to him without attempting to
run the movement or pretend we know it all,” said Smiley.
Joe
Azbell was editor of the Montgomery Advertiser and played a crucial role
in publishing the boycott and its progression.
He began his unconventional articles by writing about Montgomery
politics. In a 1955 article Azbell
explained the meaning of the ‘silent vote’ which was the increasing
independence of the white lower middle class.
Due to the change in political circumstance, voters began to vote on
issues publicised by the media and this affected candidates, because they did
not know which way the vote was going.
Azbell wrote, “No one seemed to care how the Hills were moving. No one
seemed concerned about the political blocs. But twenty years ago a political
observer would not dare comment on an election without first determining how
the blocs were going.”77
Following this Azbell published Robinson’s leaflet on the boycott in an
article on 4th December 1955.
The publishing of the boycott was important for African Americans
because it told them the plans of the boycott, which added more popularity to
the boycott. Millner writes, “While phrasing
his description of the pending boycott in a way that remained acceptable to the
generally white readership, Azbell’s message also reached some local blacks who
were unaware of the pending ‘crisis.’”78 This highlights Azbell’s important role in
the success of the Montgomery bus boycott, because local white newspaper
editors like himself were hard to find in the civil rights movement, “so few
close ‘local black-local white journalist’ connections were available in later
civil rights campaigns.”79
This was most likely because of the link between Azbell and Nixon, which
was established in the early 1950’s when Nixon became a prominent activist.
Adam
Fairclough writes, “In some ways it was the obstinacy of the whites in
Montgomery, not the deliberate planning of the blacks, that turned the boycott
into an international cause célèbre.”80 Therefore white American officials regarded
the African American protest as a foolish folly which was not going to achieve
a positive result. Yet the protest had
an impact among some white Americans, because they also found spiritual
resolution in the political correction of desegregating buses. King connected with both African Americans
and white Americans due to his middle-class background. He was able to identify the concern for civil
rights in white Americans, who found abuse and racial prejudice
unfulfilling. It was these people who
supported the protest, though were not able to verbally communicate their
anti-discriminatory thoughts to people because of the negative attention they
would have received. In Robinson’s
memoirs she mentions, “A number of domestic workers informed me that their
employers often put extra money in the pay envelopes to put in the MIA
collections at the Monday night meetings.”81 Therefore there were
middle and upper class whites in support of the boycott and this presented an
even greater appeal for the boycott to be resolved peacefully. Though such attitudes were not widespread
they still existed in Montgomery during the boycott, and this helped to
alleviate some of the political tension. Some white liberals such as Mrs. Frances P
McLeod made their opinion known. She was
a humanitarian who wrote a letter to the Montgomery Advertiser stating, “The
situation in our city regarding the treatment of Negroes on our city buses has
caused us to bow our heads in shame.”82 This type of understanding for African
American civil rights was a turning point in African American freedom. Mrs. Rutledge who was a known civic activist
also wrote to the Montgomery Advertiser, “In the years since this
incident, in which I have talked about the bus situation, I have yet to find
one white person who feel that it is right that a Negro be made to stand that a
white person may sit.”83
The downtrodden lifestyle of African Americans in American society was
gradually being recognised as unjust, because the idea they should be treated
differently on buses was seen as immoral.
Fairclough mentions, “The paralysing fear of white persecution lifted.”84
Some white Americans accepted social change taking place in Montgomery, and
were satisfied in the reconciliation being made. In December 1956 A white woman named Juliette
Morgan published a letter to the Montgomery Advertiser saying, “It is
hard to imagine a soul so dead, a heart so hard, a vision so blinded and
provincial as not to be moved with admiration at the quiet dignity, discipline
and dedication with which the Negroes have conducted their boycott.”85 Due to the peaceful nature of the protest and
the reserved commitment of the boycotters, white Americans, such as Juliette
Morgan approved of the boycott, finding the African American demand for justice
to be important.
Such
publications in the Montgomery Advertiser were vital to informing
white Americans who disapproved of the boycott that there were some white
Americans who saw it as necessary and moving.
This spread the idea of racial equality among white citizens of Montgomery. Many white Americans gave money and time to
assist in the boycott, providing “lip service” which could have been the
expression on someone’s face in reaction to the boycott or even a letter
written to the Montgomery Advertiser.86 Dykeman agreed with Morgan’s idea that, “people
of goodwill are out there in every state, willing and ready to do the right
thing.”87
5.
Conclusion
The actions of
Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, JoAnn Robinson, and Martin Luther King Jr. exhibited
their enormous support that was important to making the boycott a success. The boycott was placed in the capable hands
of these leaders, and it was the union of their abilities which strengthened
the movement, because each person had their own input and duty, which
maintained its popularity and momentum.
These leaders promoted ideologies supporting the Montgomery bus boycott,
using the potential of a boycott by utilising the Bible, Gandhi and Thoreau, to
create a peaceful functioning protest, which was successful. The idea of non-violence and non-cooperation
(civil disobedience) identified the structure of the boycott was to designed to
obtain political and social rectitude from the peaceful protest of the
Montgomery bus boycott. Ideology was
interpreted and spread through the unity of African Americans, which also
played a vital role in the success of the Montgomery bus boycott, because it
signified African Americans were together in their ideals and strive for
freedom. Desegregation was important to
their freedom because it meant they could go anywhere they liked instead of
being allocated a separate section to white Americans. Once the Montgomery bus boycott was fully underway
African Americans continued it until the government arrived at the answer they
wanted. Despite the androgyny of the
boycott and the ails and tiresome bores, they rallied themselves together to
persist and achieve victory for Montgomery and Alabama. The display of unity between African Americans
inspired some white Americans to accept change.
They accepted racist attitudes did not improve society but made it
worse. Therefore there were some white Americans who helped African Americans
in the Montgomery bus boycott, using ideology, letters, and newspapers, they
assisted in the appeal of the boycott.
The Montgomery bus boycott was strategically different to the protests
in Birmingham and Selma, because firstly non-violence was not maintained in
these protests; and secondly because white Americans were disallowed
participation, which was not the case in the Montgomery bus boycott, white
Americans were allowed involvement.
In
June 1956 in the case of ‘Browder vs. Gayle,’ the U.S district court decided
bus segregation laws in the city and state was unlawful and was a breech of the
United States constitution. Therefore on
20th December 1956 the order was implemented and the boycott was a
success. Afterwards African Americans
sat anywhere they wanted on buses. This
was obtained because as King said the right to protest was, “The great glory
of American democracy.” The fourteenth amendment in the United States
constitution stated, “No
state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States.”88 This prohibited laws on segregation, though
this had to be redefined in the 1950’s by King and other protest leaders for it
to be abided. King said in a speech to
the American Baptist Assembly on 23rd July 1956, “If there is a
victory for integration in America, it will not be a victory merely for sixteen
million Negroes, but it will be a victory for justice, a victory for goodwill,
a victory for democracy.”89
The Montgomery bus boycott was a success because the United States of
America was a democratic country which gave the right to its citizens to
publicly appeal for their civil rights.
Walton suggested, “It is the utmost importance to the people of the
world, that American Democracy withstand the slings and arrows of segregation
and the vicissitudes of world affairs and emerge strong.”90 The United States of America was launched
onto a world stage when the Montgomery bus boycott occurred, because it
re-evaluated the democracy and social values the country maintained. Thus the country had to prove its democracy
functioned properly by eliminating laws that were racially discriminating, and
this was first implemented when buses were desegregated. The Montgomery bus boycott was successful
because when African Americans stopped taking the bus in Montgomery, their
reason was clear - they did not want to take a bus which was racially
segregated.
Bibliography
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The papers of Martin Luther King Jr. Vol.III,
Birth of a New Age December 1955-December 1956,
California Press 1997.
2. Brian Ward and Tony Badger,
The making of martin
Luther King and the civil rights movement,
New York University Press
1996.
3. Howell Raines,
My soul is rested: movement days in the Deep South remembered,
Penguin 1983.
4. Ralph D. Abernathy,
Social Psychological
Mechanisms of the Social Movement,
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5. Steve M. Millner,
The Montgomery bus
boycott: A case study in the emergence and career of a social movement,
Carlson Pub 1989.
6. Ralph D. Abernathy,
The natural history of a
social movement: The Montgomery Improvement Association,
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7. J.M. Thornton,
Challenge and response in
the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956,
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8, JoAnn Gibson Robinson,
The Montgomery bus boycott
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9. Fred. D. Gray,
Bus ride to justice,
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10. Thomas J. Gillam,
The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56
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11. David J. Garrow,
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13. Adam Fairclough,
Better Day Coming Blacks and equality 1890-2000,
Penguin 2001.
14. Stephen B. Oates,
Let the Trumpet Sound A Life of Martin
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15. Martin Luther King Jr.,
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Montgomery story,
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Martin Luther King Jr.
non-violent strategies and tactics for social change,
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17. Robert S. Graetz Jr.
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Civil Disobedience,
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21. Norman W. Walton,
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We Shall Overcome: The History of the American Civil Rights
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Neither Black nor white,
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25. Mary Stanton,
Journey toward justice Juliette
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26. United States Constitution
27. The journal of blacks in higher education no. 49
Autumn 2005
Websites:
Montgomery Advertiser,
http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/frontpage.htm
1 Clayborne Carson, The papers of Martin Luther
King Jr Vol. III, p. 71
2 Ward and Badger, The making of martin Luther
King and the civil rights movement, p.57
3 Howell Raines, My soul is rested, p. 40
4 Ralph D. Abernathy, Social Psychological
Mechanisms of the Social Movement,
p. 148
5 Steve M. Millner, The Montgomery bus boycott:
A case study in the emergence and career of a social movement, p. 441
6 Ralph D. Abernathy, The natural history of a
social movement: The Montgomery Improvement Association, p. 110
7 The Journal of Blacks in higher education No.
49 p.64
8 J.M. Thornton, Challenge and response in the
Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956, p.76
9 JoAnn Robinson, The Montgomery bus boycott and
the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson Robinson, p.28
10 JoAnn Robinson, The
Montgomery bus boycott and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson
Robinson, p.28
11 JoAnn Robinson, The
Montgomery bus boycott and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson
Robinson, p. 27
12 J.M. Thornton, Challenge
and response in the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956, p. 89
13 Howell Raines, My
Soul Is Rested, p. 45
14 Ward and Badger, The
making of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, p. 59
15 JoAnn Robinson, The
Montgomery bus boycott and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson
Robinson, p.10
16 Fred. D. Gray, Bus
ride to justice, p. 54
17 Thomas J. Gillam, The
Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56, p.34
18 Fred D. Gray, Bus
ride to justice, p. 39
19 Fred D. Gray, Bus
ride to justice, p. 39
20 JoAnn Robinson, The
Montgomery bus boycott and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson
Robinson, p.20
21 David J. Garrow, Bearing
the cross, p. 15
22 Peter J. Ling, Martin
Luther King Jr., p. 23
23 Peter J. Ling, Martin
Luther King Jr., p. 40
24 Adam Fairclough, Better
Day Coming, p. 230
25 Stephen B. Oates, Let
the Trumpet Sound, p. 71
26 Mary Stanton, Journey
toward justice, p. 160
27 Adam Fairclough, Better
Day Coming, p. 231
28 Mary Stanton, Journey
toward justice, p. 158
29 Peter J. Ling, Martin
Luther King Jr. p. 3
30 Joe Azbell, Montgomery
Advertiser, p.7
31 Martin Luther King
Jr., Stride toward freedom, p. 56
32 Peter J. Ling, Martin
Luther King Jr., p. 42
33 John J. Ansbro, Martin
Luther King Jr. non-violent strategies and tactics for social change, p. 9
34 Robert S. Graetz, A
white preacher’s message on race and reconciliation, p. 76
35 Washington, A
Testament of Hope, p. 6
36 Martin Luther King
Jr., Stride toward freedom, p. 60
37 Ralph D. Abernathy,
The natural history of a social movement: The Montgomery Improvement
Association, p. 109
38 Adam Fairclough, Better
Day Coming, p. 229
39 Steven M. Millner, The
Leap to Activation, p. 454
40 Washington, A
Testament of Hope, p. 38
41 Washington, A Testament of Hope, p. 7
42 Peter J. Ling, Martin
Luther King Jr., p. 43
43 Peter J. Ling, Martin
Luther King Jr., p. 43
44 Clayborne Carson, The
papers of Martin Luther King Jr. Vol. III, p. 326
45 Mary Stanton, Journey
toward justice, p. 163
46 Mary Stanton, Journey
toward justice, p. 163
47 Clayborne Carson, The papers of Martin
Luther King Jr. Vol. III, p.17
48 Washington, A
Testament of Hope, p. 429
49 Henry Thoreau, Civil
Disobedience, p. 1
50 Norman W. Walton, The
walking city: A history of the
Montgomery bus boycott, p. 4
51 Taylor Branch, Parting
The Waters, p. 144
52 Ralph D. Abernathy, Social Psychological
Mechanisms of the Social Movement, p. 155
53 JoAnn Robinson, The
Montgomery bus boycott and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson
Robinson, p.36
54 JoAnn Robinson, The Montgomery bus boycott
and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson Robinson, p.39
55 Ralph Abernathy, The
natural history of a social movement: The Montgomery Improvement Association, p.111
56 Adam Fairclough, Better
day coming, p. 229
57 Joe Azbell, Montgomery Advertiser, p.
2
58 Oates, Let the
trumpet sound, p. 77
59 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, p.
155
60 Stephen B. Oates, Let
the Trumpet Sound, p. 87
61 Stephen B. Oates, Let
the Trumpet Sound, p. 77
62 Mary Stanton, Journey
toward justice, p. 164
63 Peter J. Ling, Martin Luther King Jr. p
46
64 Norman W. Walton, The
Walking City, p. 14
65 Reggie Finlayson, We
Shall Overcome, p. 26
66 Ralph
D. Abernathy, Social Psychological Mechanisms of the Social Movement,
p. 154
67 Robert S. Graetz, A
white preacher’s message on race and reconciliation, p. 72
68 JoAnn Robinson, The
Montgomery bus boycott and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson
Robinson, p.71
69 Clayborne Carson, The
Papers of Martin Luther King Jr. Vol. III, p. 31
70 Dykeman, Neither
Black nor white, p. 54
71 David J. Garrow, Bearing
the cross, p. 68
72 Washington, A
Testament of Hope, p. 82
73 David J. Garrow, Bearing
the cross, p.68
74 David J. Garrow, Bearing
the cross, p.68
75 Peter J. Ling, Martin
Luther King Jr., p. 47
76 Taylor Branch, Parting
the waters, p. 180
77 J.M. Thornton, Challenge
and response in the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956, p. 328
78 Steven M. Millner, The
Leap to Activation , p. 452
79 Steven M. Millner, The
Leap to Activation , p. 452
80 Adam Fairclough, Better
day coming, p. 227
81 JoAnn Robinson, The
Montgomery bus boycott and the women who started it The memoir of JoAnn Gibson
Robinson, p. 108
82 McLeod, Montgomery
Advertiser, p.10
83 Rutledge, Montgomery
Advertiser, 1955 p. 8
84 Adam Fairclough., Better
Day Coming, p. 234
85 Stephen B. Oates, Let
the trumpet sound, p. 77
86 Norman W. Walton, The
Walking City, p. 9
87 Mary Stanton, Journey
toward justice, p. 171
88 United States
Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment
89 Clayborne Carson, The
papers of Martin Luther King Jr. Vol. III, p. 326
90 Norman W. Walton, The
Walking City, p. 17
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