No person has come to symbolize the aspirations of Black people for civil rights in the U.S. more than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But so much attention is devoted to Dr. King that we sometimes forget that a social movement, which was not initiated by Dr. King, was successfully launched in Montgomery and provided the platform on which he entered into a brilliant career of social activism. As Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) staff member Ella Baker put it, "the Movement made Martin rather than Martin making the Movement."

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress and NAACP activist, refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man. She was arrested for violating the local segregation ordinance.

There are key points about the Montgomery Bus Boycott which are not covered in most presentations. First, this was not the first bus protest in Montgomery. And Mrs. Parks was not the first person to be arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white person-two Black women had been previously arrested. One of them was Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old student, who had been dragged from a bus and charged with assault and battery when she refused to move.

JoAnn Robinson, professor of English at Alabama State University and head of the Women's Political Council, represented the women during negotiations with the bus company, a year before the Bus Boycott. It was Prof. Robinson who called together local leaders to discuss building support for this movement. Among those who responded were E.D. Nixon, a Pullman car porter and NAACP president, and a local minister and activist in the Baptist Ministers' Alliance, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy. Abernathy played a key role in organizing the Montgomery Improvement Association which led the local struggle.

Second, Rosa Parks did not refuse to give up her seat simply because she was tired. She had a long history as a key leader in the NAACP and had attended political education classes sponsored by civil rights organizers in the South. She had also been moved to action by the brutal murder of young Emmett Till in Mississippi just several months before, in September 1955. But E.D. Nixon, Rev. Abernathy, and others felt that Rosa Parks had the stature that would rally mass support for a successful boycott. Rev. Abernathy also suggested that his friend, Rev. King, who was busy completing his doctoral dissertation and pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, be called on to involve himself in the developing struggle.

This boycott achieved success after 381 days. The SCLC was formed in January 1957, with Dr. King as president.

The success of the boycott and leadership abilities of Dr. King catapulted him to international stature, and the SCLC became Dr. King's base for more than a decade of civil rights leadership. The SCLC led the confrontation over segregation in Birmingham, led the Selma to Montgomery March, and was active in many other campaigns. Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1964.

Ronald W. Bailey
Northeastern University

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