The Montgomery Bus Boycott: Civil Rights Activist

The 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was a success in bringing equality among the racial segregation within buses and bus stations. One day in 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving when she was told to, which led to the call of boycotting against buses. Afterwards, African Americans gathered together and made a stance in refusing to ride buses as a protest against the unfair treatments they have endured on the buses (Document 2). Despite breaking black discriminating laws, they followed a nonviolent approach during their protest, which developed a progress toward equality. In addition, many blacks decided to avoid buses overall by finding different methods of transportation after the police started harassing the black taxi drivers.

Throughout March Book Two John Lewis tells how he was directly involved in both public demonstrations and behind-the-scenes meetings with government officials and African-American leaders. He recalls with unflinching honesty his account from the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church to his eventual break with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) increasingly radical elements. Alternating stomach-turning incidents of violence including his own vicious clubbing on the Selma to Montgomery march with passages of impassioned rhetoric from many voices, he chronicles the growing fissures within the movement. In the stunning conclusion to the March trilogy. Congressman John Lewis tells how by the fall of 1963, the Civil Rights Movement has penetrated deep into the American nation, and as chairman of the SNCC, John Lewis is guiding the tip of the spear.

He was arrested during these sit-ins which upset his mother but lewis was committed to ending segregation, and went on to take part in Freedom Rides of 1961. Freedom Riders challenged the segregated places they encountered at interstate bus terminals in the South, which had been said to be illegal by the Supreme Court. It was risky work that had many people arrested and beaten, including Lewis(“John Lewis”/

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a successful movement in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. The protest was huge protest movement against racial segregation on the public transportation system in Montgomery, Alabama. Throughout the Civil Rights Movement African Americans fought to put an end to segregation and discrimination. They conducted peaceful, non-violent protests in attempt to reach their goal of ending segregation and discrimination. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of the most effective peaceful protests during the Civil Rights Movement.

It was the 1959-1960 school year in Nashville, Tennessee. I large spring of hope began to bubble up from the earth. It’s beginning came from American Baptist College. A major proponent for this geyser was John Lewis. John Lewis was a student activist that led sit-ins and non-violent movements.

Among all the civil right leaders on the March on Washington D.C only one is a living today still fighting for equality. John Lewis was an iconic civil rights leader during 1960’s in the fight for civil rights for black people and desegregation of the south. Lewis started on a small farm in 1940’s where he tended the chickens as a young boy. As Lewis grow up he had to go through life changing that open his eyes to the injustice around him, without this moments he would not have become the great civil right leader he is today. Some of those memorable pivotal turning Lewis had to go though were the journey to Buffalo he took with his uncle Otis, listening and engaging with Mather Luther King, the pressure of stacking up to civil right speaker

Although John Lewis had forces like segregation hold him back, there are four turning points such as his first bible, the trip to Buffalo, first arrest, and meeting Martin Luther King for the very first time. From the book March, written by John Lewis, I will show how these situations really made a difference for him to become a public speaker and activist for equal rights. In this essay, I am going to describe how these impacted his life. I will first start with when he was given his first bible.

John Lewis spoke 6th that day. As seen in figure one. His speech was very powerful. His focus was mostly on all the injustice the people of color face. Lewis argues that “….

March is a book by John Lewis about the Civil Rights Movement and all the events that happened during it. The book talks about the harsh treatment of African-Americans at the time and all the hardships they faced back then. John Lewis showed his perseverance through his speech, action, and thoughts. In the beginning of the book, John Lewis stands with other civil rights activists during the Selma to Montgomery Marches.

This vessel of courage was met with what is now know as “Bloody Sunday” when marchers reached the end of the bridge and began to pray before they were beaten by Alabama’s state troopers. (Academy of Acheivment). The mass spread publicity from the violence of Bloody Sunday was broadcasted to the public. Consequently, this news sparked outrage in the country and the public demanded progression at the presidential level. Only a week after the outbreak, president Johnson appeared before congress to pass the Voting Rights Act that would enforce the voting rights of African Americans across the country (Academy of Achievement).

John Lewis, who is now known as a “Big Six” civil rights leader, joined The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Freedom Rides in 1961. The Freedom Rides’ purpose was to challenge the poorly enforced decision of the Supreme Court, which ruled segregated buses unconstitutional (Arsenault 4). The start of John Lewis’s career in the African American civil rights movement was as a very young activist. He led sit-ins and adored Martin Luther King. Lewis referred to him as “the person who, more than any other, continued to influence my life, who made me who I was” (Lewis 412).

This event gained lots of press coverage and incited protests from people all over the country who sympathized with the protesters in Alabama. President Lyndon B. Johnson also spoke out against police brutality and announced his intent to pass a voting rights bill because of the events that Sunday. Another protest formed as Dr. King invited people from all over the country to join in on a march to Montgomery two days later on March 9th. It was essential that Dr. King organized the next protest so soon after the events of Bloody Sunday so as to keep the press coverage on the issues in Alabama. The second march proceeded with around 2,000 people, but was also halted at Edmund Pettus Bridge by the Alabama government, although this time there were no casualties or violence during the

The graphic memoir, March, is a biography about Congressman John Lewis’ young life in rural Alabama which provides a great insight into lives of black families in 1940s and 50s under Jim Crow and segregation laws. March opens with a violent march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which the gruesome acts later became known as “Bloody Sunday,” during this march, 600 peaceful civil rights protestors were attacked by the Alabama state troopers for not listening to their commands. The story then goes back and forth depicts Lewis growing up in rural Alabama and President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. This story of a civil rights pioneer, John Lewis, portrays a strong influence between geography, community, and politics. The correlation between these pillars of March is that they have to coexist with other in order for John Lewis to exist that the world knows today.

This included things like the discrimination of gender, race, color, or national origin. If we didn’t have civil rights, our nation could be a much darker place than it is right now. There would be people of color who were enslaved and didn’t have voting rights or the right to have a job or the right to own any land or money. It would be very different to live in such a

Unbenounced to her, Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat to a white man ignited one of the largest and most successful mass movements in opposition to racial segregation in history. At a time when African Americans experienced racial discrimination from the law and within their own communities on a daily basis, they saw a need for radical change and the Montgomery bus boycott helped push them closer to achieving this goal. Unfortunately, much of black history is already excluded from textbooks, therefore to exclude an event as revolutionary to the civil rights movement as this one would be depriving individuals of necessary knowledge. The Montgomery bus boycott, without a doubt, should be included in the new textbook because politically