The Montgomery Bus Boycott and its impact, 1955–60 Flashcards

All 7 cards in this deck

What did Rosa Parks do on 1 December 1955, and why was it significant?

She refused to give up her bus seat and move to the back, and was arrested; as a well-respected NAACP member her brave example united people and encouraged others to campaign for desegregation.

What was the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)?

The organisation set up to run the bus boycott, with Martin Luther King as president; it sustained the boycott for 381 days using carpools so Black workers could get to work.

Why did the bus company come under pressure during the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Widespread support meant the buses carried too few passengers to make a profit, and the long boycott threatened the company with bankruptcy.

How did the Supreme Court bring the Montgomery Bus Boycott to a successful end?

It upheld the federal district court's decision that racially segregated seating on buses was unconstitutional and illegal.

What was the SCLC?

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, set up in 1957 with Martin Luther King as its president, to coordinate non-violent protest against segregation through Black churches in the South.

True or false? Martin Luther King was already a famous national civil rights leader before the Montgomery Bus Boycott began.

False. He was a young Baptist minister in Montgomery who was elected president of the MIA in 1955, and the boycott made his name.

What did the Civil Rights Act (1957) do?

It set up a Commission on Civil Rights to investigate discrimination and let the federal government act when people were stopped from voting. It was the first civil rights law in over 80 years, but Southern Democrats watered it down.