The Civil Rights Movement was a time in which African Americans struggled from the mid-1950s into the 1960s to gain civil rights that made them equal to that of whites. The movement was intended to restore the citizenship of black people, which had been tarnished and tainted by Jim Crow laws of the South. These Jim Crow laws, also known as black codes, passed by Southern states, legalized segregation between blacks and whites. Later becoming the norm of the South, black codes regulated where black people can and cannot go, whom they can and cannot marry, and the rights they were able to make use of.
An example, almost the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, is the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Regarded as the movement that began the Modern Civil Rights, the bus boycott, lasting 381 days, was the first massive protest that defied Jim Crow. Before the boycott, seamstress and NAACP activist, Rosa Parks violated the norm that kept blacks and whites separate. Despite her fears of being arrested, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. This action later caused her to get arrested. Little did the community of Southern white racists know, the arrest of Rosa Parks ignited a 13-month protest from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a turning point in the African American Civil Rights Movement because it was the first mass protest against Jim Crow and it is regarded as the movement that started the Modern Civil Rights Movement. After the boycott ended, more racial equality organizations were formed. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. , a major symbol of the boycott, encouraged nonviolent protests. The SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Council), formed by King, preached that these nonviolent protests were not a sign of weakness.
In fact, they stated that it turned weakness into strength and gave black people more courage and pride. SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), pronounced “snick,” was formed to give younger black people a voice in the movement. However the two organizations, SNCC and SCLC, had tension because they used different forms of protest and often did not agree with each other. Another organization was founded on December 5, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama to complement the fight for the civil rights of African Americans.
This organization, MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association) was the first to have a tactic to challenge racial discrimination. Despite the different forms of protest used, there was always one dominant counteract from the white people. That reaction almost always involved violence and resulted in many blacks getting injured and hospitalized, if not killed. African Americans were granted racial equality but not legally. This resulted in black people to take their problems to court in hopes of gaining their racial equality. In July of 1955, the U. S.
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals stated that segregated seating was unconstitutional. This statement is completely true and may be believed by many blacks as well as some white. However, they knew that the only way to gain the rights they have been waiting for, was to bring in the courts. After going to court, “courteous treatment from bus operators was guaranteed, passengers were seated on a first-come, first-serve basis, and Negro bus operators were hired on a predominately black route. ” Before the protest, none of these expectations were met.
In comparison to Rosa Parks before her arrest, she was neither treated fairly by the bus operator nor was he black. However, she chose to sit based on the “first-come, first-serve” basis that blacks wanted. She did not care what the bus driver threatened her with because she was tired of repeatedly being stripped of her civil rights. Therefore, between that day and the end of the boycott, people were continually fighting in court for these rights until, finally, the bus boycott ended and city buses were integrated.
This integration completely defied the city ordinance, a rule/law that is followed by a certain city, of some states. Many African Americans had to start working together by trying their best to not ride the buses and keeping the tensions between the two races low. Throughout the boycott, black people refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead they used other means of transportation such as carpooling, taxis, and walking. These alternatives took lot of money from white merchants causing the economy to topple. They decided to do this until their demands were met.
However, not everyone wanted to support the boycott. Some blacks stood at bus stops alone. Often intimidated by nearby black people staring at them, they stayed and calmly waited for their bus. “They resisted the temptation offered by some, now friendly drivers, to get on board. One witness recorded that, ‘as the day progressed the boycotters began to cheer the empty buses, laugh, and make jokes. ” Blacks knew what the effects would be if they stopped riding buses. Majority of the black race did not own cars as opposed to the white race.
Therefore, they made up most of the profit of bus companies. So when they stopped riding the buses, the buses were often empty and the economy started to deplete. Martin Luther King Jr. gains more popularity in the black community and the Civil Rights Movement. As leader of the boycott, Mr. King advocated nonviolence. This was a useful technique especially since 95% of the black population participated in the protest. This peaceful boycott also took away any association between Martin Luther King Jr. and the KKK (Klu Klux Klan)
“But there come a time… hen people get tired. We are here this evening to say to those who have mistreated us so long that we are tired, tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression. ” During this speech, King talks about the many years that blacks have been “kicked about by the brutal feet. ” His nonviolent technique plays a role into this. Often people who are “kicked about,” like to kick back. However that is only adding fuel to the fire. So, instead of kicking back, black people decide to rise up and take their civil rights.
They don’t provoke any white people in terms of hitting them. But they are able to finally have a voice. TESC Southern White Racists did not support the integration and did a lot to end it. Therefore blacks had to change their form of protest to prevent violence. “Bus company officials, facing mounting loss, were eager to compromise, but intransigence on the part of city officials and rising violence against black citizensincluding bombings, beatings, and petty harassment- led attorney Gray, then 25, to attack the segregation ordinance itself. Although blacks chose not to inflict harm, whites still resorted to violence. However, as stated before, black people refused to add fuel to be fire and instead rose above it.
This nonviolent activism had a high importance because it depended on self-discipline. From living in a society where you can get killed from just looking at a white man or woman, black people needed to have the self-discipline to restrain themselves when tempted to hit a white man back. African Americans no longer took the harsh treatment of white people. The Negro matured in a space of four days. On December 1st, he was a boy but on Monday, December 5th he had become a man. This complicated matters for the white man; he know how to deal with the boy but he could not handle the man. ”
Blacks had finally retaliated. Tired of the many years of oppression, they made use of their voice and the white man couldn’t handle it. “This during the boycott, for the first time in history, the white man sat down to talk with the Negro as a man, which brought them to the shocking realization that the Negro had grown up’while they slept. Although whites and blacks were somewhat integrated and equal, there was still racism. This quote for example, is an example of that racism. Yes, the white man finally realized that they weren’t much different from black people. Yes, the black man has “grown up” in terms of gaining civil rights and equality. But in this same quote, different terms are used to describe each race. The white man, thought to be superior and higher than the “Negro. ” The white man is given a respectable name to go by.
But the black man is given a racial, derogatory term. This is exactly how the buses of the South were. “Rosa Parks’ stubborn defiance challenged two other conventions: 1. No black person coul remain seated, anywhere on the bus, if a white passenger was standing, and 2. All of the seats in a row had to be abandoned by black passengers even if only one white passenger elected to sit on that row. ” A white man, superior to other races, was allowed to use and abuse his power as much as he wanted with no thought of how black people felt.
But when the roles are changed and black people finally took the power and used it, the white people got angry and resorted to violence. Blacks were finally empowered and with the help of civil disobedience, self-discipline, and unity they were granted the civil rights they deserved. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, being the first major protest in the Civil Rights Movement, made a huge impact on the rest of the movement. To start off, more racial equality groups were founded. These additional groups continued to fight for equality however they used different forms of protest.