In 1956 the Alabama Bus Boycott ended
On the 1st of December 1955 Mrs Parks was on a bus situated in the section for African Americans when the driver noticed that white passengers were standing. As the seats reserved for white passengers were full the bus driver, James Blake, moved the sign marking the “colored” section backwards and ordered the four African-Americans sitting in the seats to move. Mrs Parks refused to give up her seat and was subsequently arrested.
Mrs Parks’ court case took place on the 5th of December 1955 and Civil rights leader Martin Luther King arranged for a bus boycott in Alabama that would last from the day of the trial until the 20th of December 1956. Mrs Parks lost her case and was fined $10 (£6) for disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance. Mrs Parks challenged the verdict and her case was used as a test case against segregation. Martin Luther King was also convicted of starting an illegal bus boycott in Alabama on the 22nd of March 1956. He was fined $500 (£178) and ordered to pay court costs of the same value. Kings lawyer gave notice of their intention to appeal and the sentenced was changed from a fine to a 386 day prison sentence which would be suspended until the appeal hearing. The boycott lasted 382 days, ending in December 1956 after the bus companies were forced by a US Supreme court ruling made on the 13th of November 1956 that made racial segregation on transport illegal.
Many other events and protest, including the Mississippi Race Riots in 1960, led to President John F. Kennedy introduced the bill on the 11th of June 1963. The bill caused much controversy but was eventually passed by the House of Representatives on the 2nd of July 1964 with 289 votes for and 126 votes against. The bill was therefore signed that evening by President Johnson in the White House.
In the years that followed many more acts were passed to ensure equal rights of all US citizens including “the Voting Rights Act 1965” and “The Civil Rights Act 1968”.
Martin Luther King’s demonstrations earned him many stays in prison and fines but his efforts paid off gaining many more freedoms to African Americans and earning him the Nobel Peace Prize before his assassination in 1968.
The Civil Rights Act 1991 encouraged positive discrimination forcing employers to employ certain quotas of minorities.
