2. More than a just bus ride… Transportation as a component of Civil Rights Movements Richard M. Breaux, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Black Studies & History

3. Early Transportation Protests Blacks can’t ride, on certain routes, or on running boards April 1867, Charleston, South Carolina –After a Republican rally, several black men staged a “sit-in” on a horse-drawn and arrested. –U.S. Military intervention, desegregated. Richmond, Virginia, 1867 –Three black men refused to leave whites-only vehicle. Led to protest, “Let’s have our rights.” –Successfully desegregated. –Segregation reinstated

4. New Orleans, 1867 Street cars since 1820s –Free blacks refused passage, protested and fight resulted –By 1864, Black soldiers could ride, but not black civilians –William Nicholas v. Cox, April 1867 –500 blacks protest treatment on cars –Mayor helps desegregate cars, lasts until 1902

5. Mary Ellen “Mammy” Pleasant Conductor for the North Beach Railroad Company streetcar prohibits Pleasant from boarding in 1868. Case goes to the State Supreme Court. Awarded $500 in damages and wins the case.

6. Louisville, Kentucky 1870 Three African American men (Robert Fox, Samuel Fox, and Horace Pearce) purposely board the Central Passenger line to challenge the policy of relegating black men to the front platform and black women to restrictive seating. –Beaten and dragged from car, arrested for disorderly conduct –Fox sues U.S. District Court, May 1871 –After a number of negotiations and near riots, blacks ride unrestricted. –Never overturned.

7. Segregation of Railroads Conflict –White Southerners proximity to black people in public places and on passenger trains created tensions –Blacks with first-class tickets sent to second-class 1889, Black church members from Savannah to Indianapolis Mary Church Terrell The first segregation laws involved passenger trains –Tennessee, 1881 –Florida, 1887 –Railroads opposed Maintaining separate cars was too expensive

8. Segregation on Streetcars Boycotts and Sit-ins in 25 Southern Cities between 1891-1910 –Georgia, 1891 Protests in Atlanta, Augusta, Jacksonville, Richmond, Montgomery, Mobile, Little Rock, and Columbia. Blacks form own transport companies in Portsmouth and Norfolk, VA and Chattanooga and Nashville, TN. Nashville 1905, five buses $25,000.

9. Plessy v. Ferguson –Louisiana required segregated trains, 1891 Railroads and black people object –Challenged in court Homer A. Plessy –U.S. Supreme Court, 8-1 decision Upheld state law—segregation--as constitutional, 1896 Fourteenth Amendment –Jim Crow laws become embedded in southern states

10. Richmond, Virginia, 1904-05 In April 1904, African Americans in Richmond, VA protest segregation and abuse on the Virginia Passenger and Power Company streetcars. By June 1905, the VPPC closes as a result of bankruptcy. –Read newspaper examples.

11. Irene Morgan (Kirkaldy) In 1944, travels from Gloucester, VA to Baltimore,MD –White couple gets on bus and Morgan asked to move, but refuses –Guilty of violating law –Thurgood Marshall helps take case to U.S. Supreme Court –Wins case June 3, 1946 Morgan v. Virginia –Ends discrimination in Inter-state Travel –http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1080377

12. CORE: Journey of Reconciliation Congress of Racial Equality –Founded in Chicago in 1942. –On April 14, 1947, one day before Jackie Robinson “desegregated” major league baseball, eight blacks and eight whites took buses to Louisville, Kentucky to oppose continued violations of Morgan ruling. Attacked in Chapel Hill by white cab drivers. –CORE brought non-violent direct action into modern times with the “sit-in” and “freedom rides.” Considered one of the Big 4. –Co-leaders of rides: Bayard Rustin and George Houser.

13. Signpost to Freedom: Baton Rouge, 1953 In February 1953, Africans Americans in Baton Rouge, LA protest fee increases and segregation on city buses. –After passage and ignoring of City Ordinance 222, Rev. Theodore J. Jemison protests ordinance by sitting in white section (copy of Ordinance in pocket). –Independent black buses declared illegal in 1950. –Resolution: Whites first two seats, blacks last two, all else open of first come, first serve (June 24, 1953). »http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/exhibits/boycott/

14. Reviving Old Forms of Protest: The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 Strong communities –Brave leaders, committed individuals The Roots of Revolution –Protest groups Women’s Political Council, 1946 Willingness to challenge powerful white people –Montgomery Voters League –Claudette Colvin (March 2, 1955) and Mary Louise Smith One of four women plaintiffs in Gayle v. Browder (December 1956)

15. Rosa Parks December 1, 1955 –43-years-old –Department store seamstress –Civil rights activist Had been training for this kind of challenge –Inspired the modern civil rights struggle

16. Montgomery Improvement Association Bus Boycott –MIA created to coordinate the protest –Martin Luther King, Jr. President of MIA 26-year-old pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Ph.D. in theology from Boston College Urged nonviolence

17. Walking for Freedom Boycott 381 days –Bus business dropped 65 percent Women were the key to success Women walked and organized car pools Federal courts –Suits filed on behalf of local women Friends in the North

18. Victory Montgomery whites refused to compromise –State courts soon to declare car pools illegal Supreme Court, November 13, 1956 –Gayle v. Browder Ordered end to Montgomery’s bus segregation Case expressly overturned Plessy v. Ferguson –Applied to transportation

19. No Easy Road to Freedom: 1957-1960 Montgomery victory set an example –Organized black community –Help of activists outside the South –Sympathetic national press –Federal courts –Federal power

20. Freedom Rides: 1961 CORE’s attempt to challenge Jim Crow and continue its battle against southern racism. –Southern states require blacks to sit in the back and whites in front (riders reversed practice). –Segregated waiting rooms, lunch counters, or none at all. –Non-Violent Direct Action –Washington, DC to New Orleans, LA

21. Freedom Rides route, 1961

22. Freedom Rides Violence and police refuse protection –Anniston, Alabama CORE abandoned the Freedom Rides SNCC activists remain –Montgomery mob All riders hospitalized Images flashed around globe Federal government resolved to end the violence

23. Freedom Rides

25. Australian Freedom Rides, 1965 Twenty-eight European and two Aboriginals Australians, protest and investigate discrimination against Aborigines (a la CORE and SNCC). Travel 3,200 km.

26. South African Bus Boycott, 1980 & 1984 With curfews in place, and fee increased in a number of provinces, blacks boycott buses in Ciskei townships, Port Elizabeth, and Capetown. City companies lose 25 000 rand per day each.

27. The End