The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in 1955 when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. In response, the NAACP organized a boycott of the public bus system that lasted for over a year. The boycott was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and successfully protested the policy of racial segregation on public buses. In 1956, the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, marking a major victory for the Civil Rights movement.

1. Montgomery Bus Boycott and
Race relations in the USA

2. The Race Issue
Keywords:
- Jim Crow Laws
- Ku Klux Klan
- NACCP
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Segregation
- Rosa Parks
- Boycott

3. The Race Issue
• Black people were allowed be used as slaves
until after the Civil War in the 1860’s. They
were then ‘free’
• “Jim Crow Laws” were passed which meant
that black people were separated from white
people in restaurants, public toilets, parks,
schools and buses.
• In some states they were not allowed vote.
• The Ku Klux Klan were a racist secret society
who attacked and killed black people in the
south.

4. The Civil Rights Movement
• Black Americans wanted to end the US’s racist
laws.
• The National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People (NACCP)
was set up to organise people and their
demands.
• One of their major fights for Civil Rights came
in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950’s

5. Montgomery
• In the 1950’s 70,000 white people lived here
alongside 50,000 black people
• Black people were segregated from whites in
restaurants, toilets, parks etc.
• On an Alabama Bus Company bus, black
people had to sit at the back and if all the
seats were gone then a black person had to
move if a white person had nowhere to sit.
• They also only employed white bus drivers

6. Rosa Parks
• On Dec 1st 1955 Rosa Parks caught the bus
home from work.
• When a white man got on the bus and had no
seat every black person in Rosa’s row was told
to move. The others did but Rosa refused.
• Rosa was imprisoned. The NAACP urged her to
fight for her rights in court

7. The Montgomery Bus Boycott
• The day Rosa was to appear in court the NAACP
organised a boycott of the public buses (all black
people should not get the bus). They should cycle, walk
or car pool instead.
• As they made up 75% of bus users it would hit the
company hard.
• One of the main organisers of the boycott was Martin
Luther King. He was made president of the
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
• The boycott was a huge success and it was decided that
it would continue until their 3 demands were met:

8. • 1. black people would be employed as bus drivers
• 2. all drivers had to be polite to ALL customers
• 3. all seats on the bus would be filled on a “first come,
first served” basis.
• The boycott brought the black community together.
• Not everyone supported the boycott: the KKK poured
acid on cars involved in car pools and attacked
churches and the homes of Luther King and other
leaders. The police also stopped people involved in car
pooling and imprisoned boycott leaders.

9. • Rosa’s case was brought to the Supreme Court.
They ruled that segregation on buses should
end.
• After their victory the boycott was called off
and on Dec 21st 1956 after boycotting for 381
days Parks, Luther King and others boarded a
bus and sat alongside white people.
• After this victory Luther King was thought to be
the leader of the Civil Rights movement in all
of America.

10. What did the Civil Rights movement
achieve?
• Proved that a non-violent, organised movement
could make change happen. They would go on to try
change the rest of the Jim Crow Laws.

11. Martin Luther King
• Born 1929
• He was a Baptist minister in Montgomery,
Alabama
• He was one of the main organisers for the Bus
Boycott He was an excellent public speaker and
quickly became the leader of the Civil Rights
Movement
• In the 1960’s he organised many non-violent
marches and protests. He was threatened, had
his house bombed and was arrested but never
gave up.
• In 1963 he made his “I have a dream” speech.

12. • In 1964 the Civil Rights Act became law (became
illegal to discriminate in public places and in the
workplace) and he won the Nobel Peace Prize
• The following year he organised a 5 day march
from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery to get
black people to register to vote. The marchers
were attacked by the police but President
Johnson sent National Guards to protect the
marchers. This march led to the Voting Rights
Act.
• He was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis
Tennessee.

13. Audio / Visual Resources:
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/cdc9c86b-
3888-4812-a708-3a879a31d77a/the-civil-rights-
movement-taking-a-stand/
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/iml04.soc.u
sh.civil.parks/rosa-parks-and-the-montgomery-bus-
boycott/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUsIK20wxR8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZzXIXu0nEQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmEZGbUvW2M