The Montgomery Bus Boycott, in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating, took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale demonstration against segregation in the U.S. On December 1, 1955, four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, refused to yield her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus. She was arrested and fined.
The Montgomery bus boycott lasted for more than a year, demonstrating a new spirit of protest among Southern blacks. Martin Luther King’s serious demeanor and consistent appeal to Christian brotherhood and American idealism made a positive impression on whites outside the South. Incidents of violence against black protesters, focused media attention on Montgomery.
This political cartoon was once in the media illustrating the African Americans struggle for equality. During the Montgomery bus boycott, which kicked off the Civil Rights Movement and introduced Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as a national leader, Blacks refused to ride the buses for over a year until they were finally assured they could ride with dignity.
– Cartoon by Laura Gray, The Militant, Feb. 13, 1956.
