Martin Luther King's Bus Boycott - Article Example

Summary The bus boycott at Montgomery was a demonstration that nonviolent demonstration can be successful in implementing reforms. The bus boycott inMontgomery started when Rosa Parks, an educated woman was arrested when she refused to let go of her seat to the white. Martin Luther, who was at the time the president of MIA mobilized people to boycott the buses and later became prominent. The boycott demonstrated a successful challenge of racial segregation enlightening other campaigns all over America. King received several threats during the boycott but the situation intensified leading to his arrest and bombing of his house. Through amendments of the constitution, the rights of individuals will be protected while assuring presence of equality (Breyer, 2011). The campaign came to an end one year later after the declaration of desegregation by the Supreme Court, and the buses begun their operations in a desegregated manner. Martin continued several campaigns and got involved in protests including the Birmingham campaign that attracted the media. Politics were dissolved in the various civil rights movements in America following the broadcasts that were televised. Martin Luther made several speeches that inspired the blacks in fighting for their rights in a nonviolent way. The peak of his campaigns was during the Washington Campaigns that hundreds of people attended. Martin Luther delivered speeches that made an impression to all citizens of America; moreover, people were encouraged to allow freedom to prevail in every city in the US. Martin Luther Kings Plan for Blacks Bus Boycott that took place in Montgomery started in 1955 because of racial discrimination experienced by the blacks in Alabama, the rules of Montgomery required the black to take the back seats of the bus every time they boarded a bus. Jo Ann Robinson, an educated woman who was a professor at Alabama State College had a traumatic experience on the bus in 1949 and wanted to start a protest against discrimination of the blacks. The time before integration, many black people did not trust each other (Cromwell, 2004). Jo Ann was brushed off by members of the Women political Council and later she decided to write a letter to the mayor of Montgomery informing him of a planned city boycott of buses. In 1955, the Women’s political Council had a plan to boycott the buses and many community leaders at that time were waiting for a perfect time to launch the boycott. The best situation that would spark anger to the blacks was an arrest of one of their blacks, hence this would anger all the blacks and they would take action. Claudette Colvin refused to let go of her seat to a white and she was arrested but later discovered to be pregnant hence the time was not perfect for launching the boycott. Rosa Park also was arrested for refusing to let go her seat in favor of the whites. Rosa Park worked at NAACP and with the training she hard on matters relating to race, she had developed an interest in Colvin’s case. Rosa Park was arrested at the end of 1955 and the arrest came after she had gone for a training on race relations. Being a respected woman, she had no criminal record and was well educated. Parks city bus sitting on the seats meant for the whites thereby going against the stipulated rules and regulations of the city. This was the first row the blacks were allowed to sit on; going a few stops ahead, all the seats allocated for the whites were occupied and one white was left standing. The law of Montgomery city required the separation of the whites from the blacks, therefore, the blacks could not seat with the whites and whenever the seats are few, the whites were favored. Parks refusal to move to the seats at the back of the bus violated the law of Montgomery city and she was arrested for the offense. Jo Ann Robinson went ahead and put plans for bus boycott by mimeographing handouts that urged the blacks to stay off the city buses the following Monday. By the time the Parks’ hearing was due to take place, the fliers were distributed. That evening, there was a group of civil rights leaders and some ministers, including Martin Luther king Jr, went for a meeting to discuss the boycott, and came into an agreement to spread the word about the boycott during the Sunday sermon. Martin Luther King Jr contended the fact that getting sixty percent of all the blacks to go on strike would be a success and the following morning witnessed an empty bus passing in front of his house. Later at night, the Montgomery Improvement Association met and Martin Luther was appointed the leader of the movement. MIA organized a meeting to discuss on the date to end the meeting and later concluded that the blacks will have to decide on the time to end the boycott. The boycott lasted a week and the bus owners and the lawyers called for a meeting where they met King together with MIA officials in order to make a plan that is moderately desegregate. The Black Americans supplemented legal maneuvering with actions that were direct (Murrin, Johnson, McPherson and Gerstle, 2008). The plan put in place was similar to that of Baton Rouge, and MIA had many hopes that the plan would be implemented. Not only did the bus company refuse to implement the plan, but also the city officials announced the prosecution of cab drivers that will be charging less than forty-five cents fare. The blacks charged ten cents fare to the city but latter raised the charges, making the blacks lack an alternative means of travelling to work, hence there was no end to the boycott that was taking place. There was a compelling significance in the way the black Americans helped themselves and created growth of mutual aid society (Ezra, 2009). MIA arranged with the blacks that had vehicles and there was a private taxi service to pick and drop the blacks whenever they wanted. The plan became elaborate and MIA went ahead and appointed a transport Committee that was to oversee these plans. The plan worked well similar to military precision. Martin Luther Kings struggle for victory The whites turned to violence after the planned boycott failed to end; an attack on King’s home was the first incident. The amended the law stating that boycotting was prohibited and they went ahead and tried King ordering him to pay 500 dollars plus other costs of law amounting to 500 dollars or face a jail sentence of up to one year in the penitentiary. Despite these, the boycott continued and blacks stayed off the buses, vowing not to settle for the desegregation plan that was planned earlier. Martin Luther King encouraged the Blacks to continue with the boycott despite bombings that were experienced. There was nothing to settle for other than full integration as the city began to lose the battle. Having an evoked hope that is shared in the event of a revolutionary made King know and embrace mass meetings in embracing the vision of struggle (Jackson and King, 2007). Most of the blacks armed themselves with Brown decision that said they are separate but equal in their education. The case was transferred to the federal court and the blacks were relieved since this court assured them fail trial. The city lost the case, segregation was to be abolished, and the operations in the city were to get back to normal. The court favored the blacks but the city later appealed the ruling, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court, and segregation was declared unconstitutional marking the end of the bus boycott in Montgomery. The blacks could not go back to using the buses until that time when the mandate from Supreme Court was implemented. The blacks were prepared for the integrated buses, by MIA and they returned to the buses end of December 1956. The troubles continued with snipers shooting at the buses, making transportation services end at five o’clock in the evening. Buildings of the blacks were bomb and it included Baptist churches, Cabstands, and the People’s Service Station. King found unexploded bomb in his porch leading to arrests of seven white men. Martin Luther worked in other areas of the country and was involved in protests and campaigns against discrimination of the black Americans. The struggle for victory by Martin Luther king took place when he attended demonstrations, made several speeches and when he was preaching. King took untiring way that was able to rouse the crowds strengthening their awareness and the need to have nonviolence resistance. The victory got in Montgomery ignited fire to the various civil rights and it later stood for the rights of the black in the entire America. Martin Luther’s speeches were impeccable and it often left a lasting impression to Americans. One of his memorable comparisons was that of the constitution being similar to a cheque that had not been cashed at the bank. The stamped cheque indicated lack of funds and Martin refused the cheque saying they cannot believe the bank was bankrupt of justice for the people of America. Martin Luther reprimanded severely the brutality that was done by the police, denial of the blacks to access public facilities, and movement restrictions imposed to the blacks. Martin Luther King’s Encouragement to colored people Martin took part in Birmingham campaigns in 1963 in order to assume the position of his co-pastor in the church. Later Martin Luther King was involved in protests, marches and demonstrations including that of Birmingham that lasted two months. He struggled for the rights of the blacks to vote fight against labor among other civil rights that they were denied. Martin knew that having careful selections of required targets were important for the success of his campaigns (Hatt, 2009). Media attention was attracted to this protest and it played an important role in the evolution of civil rights movements to the politics of America. Martin led a march on Washington to protests against the civil rights and get King’s speech. Martin Luther expressed broadly expressed his dreams of being in a nation that people are not judged based on color but on character content; moreover, intersection of martin Luther King to workers movements became the high point of freedom movements for the blacks (Karl, 2007). Many people were in agreement with Martins vision and they were willing to change American laws even though others did not agree with him. Despite several arrests, Martin gave his speeches and encouraged people to try to fight for the laws that will help the Black Americans. In spite of the fact that Martin inspired people to carry out peace demonstrations, his followers got involved in violent protests. America started changing the laws but Martin knew there was a lot still to be done. Segregated cities were later transformed into bustling metropolis that had integrated workforce making the black middle class in the society to grow (Kotz, 2005). Reference Breyer, S. (2011). “Making Our Democracy Work: Yale Lectures”. Yale Law Journal. 120, 8: 1999-2026. Cromwell, M. (2004). Fifty-Five Positive Steps Black People Can Take to Preserve Themselves into the 21st Century. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse. Ezra M. 2009.Civil Rights Movement: People and Perspectives. California: ABC-CLIO. Hatt C. (2009). Martin Luther King. London: Evans Brothers. Jackson, T.F and King M.L. (2007). From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. Karl, H. (2007). “Michael Honey”. Library Journal. 132, 1: 124-124. Kotz N. (2005). Judgement Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King and the Laws that Changed America. New York: Nick kotz. Murrin J.M, Johnson P.E, McPherson J.M, and Gerstle G. (2008). Liberty, Equity, Power: A History of American People. Belmont: Thompson Wadsworth. Read More