Civil Rights – Day 3 Explain how the Montgomery bus boycott was a major turning point in the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks

“The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.” Bell Work 3 Time Table Bell Work – 10 min. Lecture Notes – 20 min. Note Cards – 20 min. What is it that you cannot hold for ten minutes, even though it is lighter than a feather? Your Breath How did the Brown decision affect school segregation, particularly in the South? “The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.” Laurence J. Peter

The Montgomery Bus Boycott In December of 1955 Rosa Parks gave the NAACP their opportunity to fight segregation in public transportation. Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person and was arrested. In protest, many of the 50,000 African Americans organized a boycott against the bus system.

Whites protested through violent intimidation to break the boycott. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) chose Martin Luther King Jr., a 26-year-old Baptist minister, as its spokesperson. King had a way of inspiring people, which helped as the boycott dragged for months. Whites protested through violent intimidation to break the boycott. King and other MIA leaders homes were bombed. Many boycotters lost their jobs, including Rosa Parks. King urged the Black community not to respond to the violence with more violence.

The Boycott Succeeds The non-violent protest worked. In 1956 the Supreme Court declared both the Montgomery and the Alabama segregation laws unconstitutional. Along with this victory saw Martin Luther King Jr. as a new leader in the Civil Rights movement. Not surprisingly, with the Cold War fear, MLK was accused of being a Communist. Congress aided the movement with the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first law since Reconstruction.

MINORITY GROUPS IN THE 1950’S Hispanics Asian Americans Native Americans Faces discrimination and segregation, particularly in schools; nativism Faced discrimination; believed they did not fit the American “ideal” Faced relocation and termination policies; government pressured assimilation a

Note Cards - Nonviolent resistance Sit-ins Southern Christian Leadership Conference Freedom Riders Medgar Evers Civil Rights Act of 1964 Twenty-fourth Amendment Voting Rights Act Nation of Islam Elijah Muhammad Malcolm X Black Power Black Panther Party Affirmative Action