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The Montgomery Bus Boycott against Segregation

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For African Americans living in the United States after the Civil War, life was very burdensome. Slavery had ended, but segregation was still present. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment helped the African Americans gain basic rights but even with these laws, they were not treated equally. Segregation is the action or state of setting someone apart from other people. Sadly, the Ku Klux Klan was mistreating the African Americans as well. The Jim Crow Laws were made to separate the whites from the blacks in southern states.

These laws were in place up until 1965. They attempted to create separate, equal facilities. However, when these laws were in use, many states ignored them and made sure to create better conditions for the whites. During this time period, blacks were not allowed to use whites facilities, they had separate water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, schools, and much more. Unfortunately, African Americans experienced a tragedy because of segregation on the buses, many people were arrested for protesting the bus laws. African Americans also experienced a triumph because they were eventually able to get a new law passed and integration on buses. After the Civil War, a major tragedy was segregation on buses.

Segregation on buses was a large tragedy because whites thought they they deserved better conditions than blacks when this was not the case. This was a social conflict. The African Americans did not want to give up their seats to the white people if they sat there first. There is a famous quote that repreents this tragedy, “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free” (Parks). The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments where also known as the Civil War Amendments. These amendments where created to ensure the equality of the newly freed African American slave, they were passed from 1865 to 1870. The 13th qmendment banned slavery in the United States.

The 14th amendment stated that everyone born or naturalized in the United States were eligable to become citizens, even blacks. Lastly, the 15th amendment banned the government from deneying U.S. citizens to vote based on their race, or color. Theese amendments did end many problems for the african americans but segregation was not one of them. Therefore, these amendments are still a tragedy of segregation. During this time period there were many groups formed to help defend these new amendments that had been enacted.

In 1866 the Ku Klux Klan was founded. The KKK was an organization that ensured whites stood higher than blacks. They were a masked secret society. Many people said that the Klan’s clothing left the members undetected, but in reality this is not true, most members were well known in their communities. This group terrorized black communities. By the end of the 1920s, the Klan had majorly decreased, from almost 5 million members to a few hundred thousand. Lastly, the Jim Crow laws were created. The Jim Crow laws were mainly placed after the Civil War and the reconstruction of states. The black people were no longer slaves but now the Jim Crow laws were giving them limited rights.

The amount of integration was based solely on what the state allowed. The communities governed by whites thought that the blacks weren’t as good as them. This evidence proves that segregation was a tragedy because tragedy is an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe, and segregation caused great suffering. To conclude, segregation was a tragedy because it caused people great suffering. After the Civil War a major triumph was integration on buses. This is a triumph because the African Americans worked very hard to get this new law passed, they went through a long, long journey to get to where they are today.

The African Americans stayed strong during the whole boycott in order to gain bus integration. The civil rights movement was a social conflict. This took place between the 1950s and the 1960s. It was to create equal right between the whites and blacks. A black seamstress Rosa Parks was riding the bus one day. After just a couple stops the whole entire white section was filled up so the bus driver asked rosa parks and three other blacks to move to the back of the bus the other three blacks got up and moved but Rosa said no because she had been tired from being on her feet all day at work, the bus driver told her that he would arrest her if she didn’t move but she still refused, so the bus driver called the police and Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955.

The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and elected King as their first president. It was formed after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white male, after the blacks her about this they wanted to fight back so that is why they formed the MIA. These were all triumphs because they were getting closer to gaining integration on buses. Martin Luther King Junior was an important part of the montgomery bus boycott, he helped the blacks organize the boycott. Martin King jr. didn’t know how well the boycott would go, but he knew that they would be giving up their main way to get around.

When King woke up that morning his wife called him downstairs. That is when King saw an empty bus slowly passing by, then a second empty bus passed, then a third bus with only two white passengers passed by. By the end of the day the boycott was almost 100% effective. The black people were getting closer and closer to their triumph; integration on buses. After the first day of the boycott, King did not know whether or not to end the boycott on a good note or just keep on going until things started falling apart. But King told the marchers to keep walking because the boycott would indeed go on.

The boycott continued even after the rainy days. For more than a year they continued to boycott the buses. Donations for the blacks were given from all over the U.S. even all the way from Singapore and Japan. These donations helped the boycott to go on through the winter and Montgomery became known as the walking city. Authorities began to fight back because the boycott was so successful. In January 1956, Rosa Park lost her job working at the department store. In February the police arrested Rosa Parks, Dr.King, and approximately 80 other people. Police also arrested carpoolers for speeding meanwhile they were clearly under the speed limit. King was also arrested for speeding. They bombed four black churches and two ministers’ homes.

There was more and more violence. A few days later they bombed E.D. Nixon’s front yard luckily nobody was hurt. After that they bombed King’s home, it exploded on the deck and shattered all the windows sending pieces of glass into the house many blacks were mad and crowded around King’s house but King calmed them down. Even though many people were getting arrested and hurt it was still a triumph because it had been spreading the word about the boycott. The boycott had many rough patches but they were still completing their goal of not riding the bus until a new law was made (symbaloo). The company that drove the buses began to lose very much money and eventually lost up to about 2/3 of its customers (Benson).

It was not pre-arranged. It just happened that the driver made a demand and I just didn’t feel like obeying his demand. “I was quite tired after spending a full day working” (Parks). All of this information shows the triumphs of the montgomery bus boycott. Unfortunately, African Americans experienced a tragedy because of segregation on the buses, many people were arrested for protesting the bus laws. African Americans also experienced a triumph because they were eventually able to get a new law passed and there was integration of buses.

References

Cite this paper

The Montgomery Bus Boycott against Segregation. (2021, Oct 05). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/the-montgomery-bus-boycott-against-segregation/

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