The Montgomery Bus Boycott occurred from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. The boycott of public buses lasted 381 days. People all around Montgomery joined in the boycott against public buses. Over 80% of the city's colored population boycotted the public buses of Montgomery, Alabama.
How Did Word Get Around and What Did They do to Boycott?
Days before Rosa Parks's day at court, major black leaders and priests in the African American community joined and discussed how to get the news around to other people. They decided and spread the news by making announcements, flyers, and just plain out going out telling people in the community. In the days of the boycott, black, colored, and the few white citizens either walked, drove, or shared rides with people who owned cars. Some taxis lowered their fares! The whites did all they could to hinder the movement. They said that it was illegal to lower fares , and white leaders even tried to sabotage the boycotting by announcing it was over, when they basically bribed community leaders. Fortunately, Martin Luther King Jr. learned of this quickly and kept everyone boycotting until December 20, 1956.
Impact
On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that Alabama's bus segregation laws were unconstitutional. On December 20, the court order was sent to Alabama to allow passengers to sit any place on the bus. Although some things had changed, there was still a long way to go...