The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Jeremy Atkinson

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a 13-month long boycott of the public buses as a mode of
commute by African Americans. This boycott was sparked by the arrest and fine imposed on Rosa Parks,
an African American woman, whose supposed crime was her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery
bus to a white man (Morgan 2).
In the op-ed, the writer, Juliette Morgan is extremely impressed with the way the African American
community galvanized and mobilized in unity in their protest of Rosa Parks arrest. Morgans respect is
well-deserved indeed, because for a community that lacked literacy and perceived as undisciplined and
uncivilized by the white supremacists, non-violent nature of their boycott on a sensitive and controversial
issue, since racial discrimination was at the heart of it, is what caught the attention of the entire
population of the United States. Every day, the blacks could be seen either walking from their homes to
Mobile Road to get to work, or those who could afford to, could be seen using taxis for their daily
commute.
To further establish the peaceful nature of the protest, Morgan cites how French taxis were used to
transport soldiers against an advancing German army at the Battle of Marne, and highlights a distinction
that while at Marne it was a taxicab army, yet in Montgomery, it was the black community trying to get to
their jobs (Reporters 1).
It was this sustained and united front that also brought attention to Martin Luther Kings campaign to end
segregation against the African American community. Interestingly, there are several parallels that can be
drawn between how Gandhi campaigned against the colonial British government controlling Indias
considerable salt resources and trade and reaping all the benefits. He went on a 150-mile protest march
with only the most basic necessities and proclaimed that he would only return once the British left the
sub-continent. Gandhi was protesting the discrimination against a majority by those in power (Staff 2).
King, a church pastor by profession, was also advocating equality of treatment for the black population on
public buses, since almost three quarters of the bus users were blacks. While Gandhis objectives were
attaining freedom for the dominant religious group, that is the Hindus, from an occupying force, King was

battling deeply ingrained and very difficult to overcome biases against the African community, especially
when it came to their status as equal members of society.
While there were some violent incidents that result in destruction of property, the author argues that the
damage caused was almost negligible than what transpired when Lanier students staged protests against
the abolition of on-campus sororities. In fact, Morgan defends the bus boycott and has likened it to the
Boston Tea Party, when three consignments of tea were thrown overboard to protest against the
imposition of taxes by British on tea imported to the United States. This incident was the trigger of the
War of Independence that resulted in the independence from colonial rule (Morgan 1). The Montgomery
Boycott similarly, yielded the passage of an anti-segregation law by the Supreme Court in 1856.

Works Cited
Morgan, Juliette. "Lesson From Gandhi." The Montgomery Advertiser 12 December
1955. Print.
Reporters, Express Staff. "Taxi to the front and a place in history' The WWI taxis of the
Marne." Express 7 September 2014. Online.
Staff, History.com. "Montgomery Bus Boycott." 12 September 2010. History.com.
Online. 29 April 2016.