Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white person, the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for 13 months and caused the Montgomery Alabama city transit system to run a huge deficit1. Within days, the city’s black leaders, including the E.D. Nixon, President of NAACP and Jo Ann Robinson, held a meeting and formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), appointing Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as president2. The movement was riddled with turmoil, including the bombing of both King and Nixon’s homes and the arrest and conviction of King for the charge of “conspiracy that interfered with lawful business”3. However, on November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unlawful and the boycott ended on December 20th, that same year, 381 days after it had begun4.
To learn more about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, go to https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-8/apush-civil-rights-movement/a/the-montgomery-bus-boycott, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-8/apush-civil-rights-movement/a/the-montgomery-bus-boycott, http://rosaparksfacts.com/montgomery-bus-boycott/
2. http://www.blackpast.org/aah/montgomery-bus-boycott-1955-56
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