The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a historical landmark in time for the blacks. The boycott was
triggered by Rosa Parks. Her brave and distinguished courage was shown best in her sitting
down for her rights. Rosa was on her way home from a long and hard day of work as a
seamstress, she was on the bus in a seat that she had been in for quite some time. When a white
man boarded the bus and tried to force Rosa to the back of the bus. Rosa wouldn't go she refused
to give up her seat to a white man or any other person just because of her color. The bus driver
JP Blake said "I'm going to enforce the Montgomery segregation laws if you do not move to the
back of the bus". Rosa replied and said "you may go right ahead and do that but I'm not
moving." After this incident Rosa was arrested and taken to jail. And this was how the
Montgomery Bus Boycott was started.
Autherine Lucy
She was the first black student to attend the University of Alabama. After the white students
rioted, he was expelled, she was helped by the *NAACP* to be enrolled for graduate studies at
the university. The federal Government failed to intervene and the message of
such resistance to integration could succeed.
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka
Court ruled that separate but equal segregated schools violated the 14th
amendment to the Constitution. After two weeks they issued a ruling that
school desegregation must take place "with all deliberate speed."
The white South's reaction to the Brown V.S. Board decisions ranged from
taken compliance to vehement refusal. The Southern Manifesto which was signed
in 1956 and by over 100 congressmen from southern states. They called the
Brown decision unconstitutional and pledged to revise it.
Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers, Meredith fought a whole lot of legal challenges about his
application for admission. Finally a Federal Court order in Sep. 1962
enjoined the University registrar from further obstruction. Governor Ross
Barnett had himself declared emergency registrar and physically barred
Meredith's approach to the registration desk. This boosted Barnetts's
popularity. In a televised speech Barnett said "There is no case in history
where the Caucasian race has survived social integration... We must either
submit to the unlawful dictate of Federal Government or stand up like men
and tell them Never. Never." The Justice department Official helped
Meredith register, rebuffed four times by Barnett and by lieutenant Governor
Paul Johnson.
March On Washington
The March on Washington was inspired by the events in Birmingham. This Demonstration was the largest of all demonstrations before it. The March on Washington stood for jobs and freedom, but the events in Birmingham and the Kennedy Civil Rights Bill changed the plan. The March was scheduled for March 28 which gave Rustin under two months to organize the turn-out and too handle the details. The budget for the march was set at one hundred and twenty dollars, the funds came from donations . The Washington authorities thought that there were going to be riots so they had the whole D.C. police force there at the March. 15,000 paratroopers were put on alert that day. The police liked were the march was being held because there was water on three sides of them and the demonstrators could be easily contained. Martin Luther King Jr. was taken more serious about the march than anyone thought. For the marchers the trip to
Washington was a festive affair, enlivened with freedom songs and participating in what they knew would be a historic action.
