Montgomery Bus Boycott

Title:
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Years:
1956
1955
Description:
Local authorities in Montgomery, Alabama, arrested Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, when she refused to vacate her seat in the white section of a city bus on December 1, 1955. To protest Parks' arrest and the continued segregation of Montgomery's bus lines, members of the city's black community formed the Montgomery Improvement Association on December 4, 1955, and launched a community wide boycott to compel the system's integration. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., black commuters and a small number of white sympathizers suffered official harassment, numerous threats, and personal inconvenience for more than a year while the matter made its way through the federal courts. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision, and ruled the segregated system unconstitutional. To celebrate the boycott's victory, King and three ministerial colleagues boarded a city bus on December 21, 1956 only one day after Montgomery officials received the court order to desegregate the city's buses, and took their seats throughout the vehicle.
Archival Collections And Reference Resources:

119 items in 14 collections (expand all)

Diagram of the Bus Showing Where Rosa Parks Was Seated

Creator:
United States. District Court (Alabama : Middle District : Montgomery Division)
Date of Original:
1955
Collection:
Civil Case Files, 1938-1995, Records of the District Courts of the United States
Contributing Institution:
United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Atlanta Branch

Fingerprint Card of Rosa Parks

Creator:
United States. District Court (Alabama : Middle District : Montgomery Division)
Date of Original:
1955-12-01
Collection:
Civil Case Files, 1938-1995, Records of the District Courts of the United States
Contributing Institution:
United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Atlanta Branch

Police Report on Arrest of Rosa Parks

Creator:
United States. District Court (Alabama : Middle District : Montgomery Division)
Date of Original:
1955-12-01
Collection:
Civil Case Files, 1938-1995, Records of the District Courts of the United States
Contributing Institution:
United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Atlanta Branch

Testimony from Aurelia S. Browder et al. v. W. A. Gayle, et al., No 1147

Creator:
United States. District Court (Alabama : Middle District)
Date of Original:
1956
Collection:
Civil Case Files, 1938-1995, Records of the District Courts of the United States
Contributing Institution:
United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Atlanta Branch

Coretta Scott King

Creator:
Uffelman, Minoa D.
Date of Original:
2008-03-12
Collection:
Encyclopedia of Alabama
Contributing Institution:
Encyclopedia of Alabama (Project)

E. D. Nixon

Creator:
Brooks, F. Erik
Date of Original:
2007-09-19
Collection:
Encyclopedia of Alabama
Contributing Institution:
Encyclopedia of Alabama (Project)

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Creator:
Bass, S. Jonathan
Date of Original:
2008-01-09
Collection:
Encyclopedia of Alabama
Contributing Institution:
Encyclopedia of Alabama (Project)

Modern Civil Rights Movement in Alabama

Creator:
Jeffries, Hasan Kwame, 1973-
Date of Original:
2008-06-17
Collection:
Encyclopedia of Alabama
Contributing Institution:
Encyclopedia of Alabama (Project)

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Creator:
Burns, Stewart
Date of Original:
2008-06-09
Collection:
Encyclopedia of Alabama
Contributing Institution:
Encyclopedia of Alabama (Project)

Rosa Parks

Creator:
Gaillard, Frye
Date of Original:
2007-03-14
Collection:
Encyclopedia of Alabama
Contributing Institution:
Encyclopedia of Alabama (Project)

A. McHaney

Creator:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Sheriff's Dept.
Date of Original:
1956-02-21
Collection:
Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
Contributing Institution:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Archives

Addie J. Hamerter

Creator:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Sheriff's Dept.
Date of Original:
1956-02-21
Collection:
Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
Contributing Institution:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Archives

Alberta J. James

Creator:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Sheriff's Dept.
Date of Original:
1956-02-21
Collection:
Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
Contributing Institution:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Archives

Alfred Ellis

Creator:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Sheriff's Dept.
Date of Original:
1956-02-21
Collection:
Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
Contributing Institution:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Archives

Arthur Bibbins

Creator:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Sheriff's Dept.
Date of Original:
1956-02-21
Collection:
Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
Contributing Institution:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Archives

Arthur Murphy

Creator:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Sheriff's Dept.
Date of Original:
1956-02-21
Collection:
Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
Contributing Institution:
Montgomery County (Ala.). Archives
See All 90 Items

Septima Clark--outtakes

Creator:
WIS-TV
Date of Original:
1979
Collection:
Local Television Newsfilm Collections
Contributing Institution:
South Caroliniana Library

Coretta Scott King (1927-2006)

Creator:
McCarty, Laura
Date of Original:
2006-11-03
Collection:
New Georgia Encyclopedia
Contributing Institution:
New Georgia Encyclopedia (Project)

Letter, 1956 July 6, (New York, N.Y.), J. Waties Waring, to Joseph A. DeLaine, Sr., (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Creator:
Waring, Julius Waties, 1880-1968
Date of Original:
1956-07-06
Collection:
Rev. Joseph A. DeLaine Papers ca. 1918-2000
Contributing Institution:
South Caroliniana Library

Day of Pilgrimage begins as Montgomery Negroes walk to work in the rain ... [graphic].

Creator:
Villet, Grey, photographer.
Date of Original:
1956
Collection:
Rosa Parks Papers
Contributing Institution:
Library of Congress

Rosa Parks papers

Date of Original:
1866/2006
Collection:
Rosa Parks Papers
Contributing Institution:
Library of Congress

[Collage commemorating Rosa Parks for her actions leading to the Montgomery bus boycott, 1955-56] [graphic] /

Date of Original:
2005-02-015
Collection:
Rosa Parks Papers
Contributing Institution:
Library of Congress

WSFA audiovisual item D047.0009

Date of Original:
1957-11
Collection:
WSFA Collection
Contributing Institution:
Alabama. Department of Archives and History
Educator Resources:

2 items in 2 collections (expand all)

Rosa Parks

Date of Original:
1955/1956
Collection:
Teachers' Domain Civil Rights Special Collection
Contributing Institution:
WGBH Educational Foundation