78.3k views
1 vote
Many accounts of the Montgomery bus boycott say that once Parks was arrested, the boycott happened. According to Robinson, what happened in between the arrest and the start of the boycott?

User Djblois
by
7.6k points

1 Answer

5 votes

Answer:

After Rosa Parks' arrest, leaders like Jo Ann Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., and E. D. Nixon coordinated community actions, including mobilizing the Women's Political Council to disseminate information for the Montgomery bus boycott, leading to the city's public bus system desegregation.

Step-by-step explanation:

Following the arrest of Rosa Parks for her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, significant organizational efforts were undertaken by local African American leaders before the start of the Montgomery bus boycott. Jo Ann Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., and E. D. Nixon were instrumental in moving the community towards a boycott.

Nixon secured bail for Parks and sought her consent to challenge segregation on public transport legally. The Women's Political Council (WPC), composed of African American women activists, was pivotal, mobilizing the community quickly to organize the boycott. They disseminated information through newspapers and word of mouth, urging congregations to participate. The African American ministers, in conjunction with the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), played a central role by endorsing the call for the bus boycott during Sunday services.

The initial success led to a prolonged boycott, which brought the city's bus system to its knees financially as it depended heavily on African American passengers. The boycotters sustained the movement for 381 days, employing carpooling, utilizing reduced-fare taxis, and walking significant distances. Eventually, their perseverance culminated in a Supreme Court decision that declared bus segregation laws unconstitutional, thus ending segregation on Montgomery's public buses.

User Imaky
by
7.7k points