Bus boycotts: The Freedom Riders |
protests and marches
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The bus boycotts of 1950 played a major role in the civil rights movement in the 60's. They were, essentially the spark that lit the fuse. It all started with 15 year old Claudette Colvin's arrest after she refused to give up her seat on a bus 9 months before Rosa Parks. Then when Rosa was arrested, the boycotts began. Nearly 40,000 African Americans rode the bus during this time, and that same amount began their protests. Civil Rights Leaders, such as Martin Luther King, banded together and organized carpools to keep the movement alive until the city met their demands. The boycott lasted for 381 days.
In 1961, The Freedom Riders rose to do as others had in the 50's. The Freedom Riders were 13 black and white civil rights activists took two public buses down to the South to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boyton v. Virginia, declaring that segregation in interstate bus and rail stations to be unconstitutional. The African American Freedom Riders tried to enter "White Only" restrooms and lunch counters, and the white riders did the opposite. They were met with violence on both ends. In the months that followed, several hundred people joined the movement and in so, the Freedom Riders gained their goal. In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission prohibited segregation in bus and train stations nationwide. |
The marches and protests of the Civil Rights Movement go hand in hand, literally. Many people think of Martin Luther King when they envision protests, but he wasn't the only activist. In 1960, four students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College began sit -ins, and not too long after, had a significant amount of other students joining in. These protests quickly escalated through the South and led to the creation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Ironically enough, this group was more agressive in it's nonviolent tactics than Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Led Conference's (SCLC) strategy.
In 1965, The march from Selma, Alabama to the state's capital of Montgomery took place. The SCLC made the attempt to march from one city to the other in a protest of the laws forbidding African American's from voting. They were met by the police on the outskirts of Selma, who used tear gas and wielded clubs. The day was named "Bloody Sunday." Despite the attack, many of the activists wanted to try again. The SNCC encouraged King to ignore a court order forbidding any further marches. Several unsuccessful attempts happened until they received court permission to march. |