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USA - A Divided Union 1941-80
Key Question: What were the key features of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
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Quick Links - WWII - Women, Blacks, Economy; Women in 1950s, McCarthyism, Civil Rights Reasons, Montgomery, Little Rock, Tactics, Successes; Black Power, Youth and Students, Women's Movement, JFK's New Frontier, Johnson's Great Society, Watergate |
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Key Words are explained down the page
The
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955/56 The first campaign against segregation came in transport. On 1st December 1955 Rosa Parks, a 42 year old black woman and NAACP member refused to give up her seat to a white man as was the law in Alabama. She was arrested and fined $10.
However, her friends organised a bus boycott until the bus company agreed to seat all passengers on a ‘first come, first serve’ bases. Black customers made up 75% of the Company’s’ business, so the boycott was very damaging. Black passengers walked, shared lifts or took taxis to work.
A
young black minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, who believed that
mass ‘non- violent protest’ was the best way to win equal rights,
emerged as the leader of the campaign. The
KKK tried to break the boycott with violence and threats,
including the bombing of Martin Luther King’s house. In
November 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was illegal
and in December, the company gave in. Black Americans had won a famous victory.
Key Words Boycott - To refuse to use a service or purchase a product as a protest against the company's actions.
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Web Links
African American Odyssey - Civil Rights Era
veteran Civil Rights Activist
Martin Luther King website at Western Michigan University
Unbroken Circle - an audio history of the Civil Rights Movement
Howard Zinn recalls the Freedom Riders movement in 'Going South'
Recommended Revision Guide £5.99
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