Montgomery Bus Boycott

• When was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

  1st December 1955
• What were the causes?

  • Montgomery's segregated buses and behaviour of white bus drivers
  • Black passengers sat at back and white bus drivers abused black passengers
  • 1st December Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to move for a white passenger
• What happened?

  • NAACP and Alabama State College organised boycott of buses
  • students created propaganda leaflets to elicit support from black community
  • NAACP worked with local church leaders such as Martin Luther King
• What was the outcome?

  • Bus Boycott started on Rosa Park's trial - for 381 days 50,000 blacks walked/shared cars rather than using buses
  • Created Montgomery improvement association (MLK leader)
  • buses legally desegregated Dec 1956
• What was Ike's response?

  Refused to give federal support and largely ignored it