Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956). The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia

Protest against racial segregation that led to a Supreme Court
decision banning discrimination in intrastate transportation.
Angered by abusive bus drivers, leaders of the Montgomery, Alabama, African American community resolved to
challenge the practice of reserving seats at the front of the bus
for whites and, if additional whites boarded, forcing blacks to
surrender their seats. Most bus patrons, about 80 percent,
consisted of blacks. On December 1, 1955, police arrested
Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress, for violating a
local ordinance by declining to surrender her seat to a white
man. Angered at the arrest, blacks called for a one-day bus
boycott that proved a resounding success. The Montgomery
Improvement Association (MIA), led by Martin Luther King
Jr., then asked all Montgomery residents to refrain from riding buses until the conclusion of an agreement between MIA
and the city of Birmingham concerning fare reductions, employment for black drivers, and a policy reserving five seats
instead of ten for whites. Throughout the boycott, hundreds
of people walked, while those with cars willingly served as
chauffeurs. The MIA developed its own transportation service, hiring drivers and paying for the fuel used to transport
people to work. Reluctant to lose household help, some white
employers increased their employees’ transportation stipend
to cover taxi fare, while others increased wages. Because the
business community had shown little support for the boycott, many black Montgomery residents decided to buy only
essentials until the boycott ended because of the difficulty of
carrying large purchases home without transportation. Many
boycotters decided to trade only with black business operators. Beset by reduced sales, some white-owned businesses
began closing early or going bankrupt. The bus company discontinued lines and laid off drivers. Rates were cut for the few
buses still in operation, and buses ran much less frequently
than they had in the past. The boycotters eventually won
when in 1956 the Supreme Court let stand without review an
opinion of a lower court mandating integration. The Court

case was the deciding factor that ended the boycott on December 21, 1956.
—Caryn E. Neumann
References
Garrow, David J., ed. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the
Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson
Robinson.
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987.

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