Montgomery Bus Boycott and Scottsboro trials

Hey guys! William Zhao has just came back from the movie the GREEN HORNET! haha Jay Chou can't speak very smoothly but its still good! Alright, let's get down into some serious business, haha, today I would be blogging about Montgomery Bus Boycott and Scottboro trials.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

What is Montgomery Bus Boycott? The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social Protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system.

The next morning at a church meeting led by the new MIA head, King, a citywide boycott of public transit was proposed to demand a fixed dividing line for the segregated sections of the buses. Such a line would have meant that if the white section of the bus was oversubscribed, whites would have to stand; blacks would not be forced to remit their seats to whites.

This demand was a compromise for the leaders of the boycott who believed that the city of Montgomery would be more likely to accept it rather than a demand for a full integration of the buses. In this respect, the MIA leadership followed the pattern of earlier boycott campaigns in the Deep South during the 1950s. A prime example was the successful boycott a few years earlier of service stations in Mississippi for refusing to provide restrooms for blacks. The organizer of that campaign,T.R.M Howard of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, had spoken on the brutal slaying of Emmett Till as King's guest at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church only four days before Parks's arrest. Parks was in the audience and later said that Emmett Till was on her mind when she refused to give up her seat.

The MIA's demand for a fixed dividing line was to be supplemented by a requirement that all bus passengers receive courteous treatment by bus operators, be seated on a first-come, first-served basis, and blacks be employed as bus drivers. The proposal was passed, and the boycott was to commence the following Monday. To publicize the impending boycott it was advertised at black churches throughout Montgomery the following Sunday.

Scottboro Trials

Who were the Scottboro Boys? The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenager boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The prisoners were brought to court by 118 Alabama guardsmen, armed with machine guns. It was market day in Scottsboro, and farmers were in town to sell produce and buy supplies. A crowd of thousands soon formed.Courthouse access required a permit due to the salacious nature of the testimony expected. As the Supreme Court later described this situation, "…the proceedings…took place in an atmosphere of tense, hostile, and excited public sentiment."

So why were they so significant? Both of these incidents show that how unfair it was towards the blacks during those days. They were somehow ''lower class'' than the whites. These 2 trails fought for the rights of the blacks because the transport was biased towards the whites. These two trials were also related the book because under the same conditions as the book, black men were accused of rape when they actually did not commit the crime.