Martin started his job as the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on September 1, 1954. In his sermons, he persuaded church members to register to vote. Voting was one way to change unjust laws. He also encouraged them to join the NAACP—the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP is one of the oldest civil rights groups in the United States. It was formed on February 12, 1909. Its purpose is to help minorities get equal and fair treatment when they look for a job, buy a home, or apply to a school. These are just a few examples of civil rights.
After living in Montgomery for about a year, Coretta gave birth to a little girl—Yolanda Denise. Martin called her Yoki for short. Now the Kings were a family.
Only two weeks after Yolanda was born, something happened that changed U.S. history. On December 1, 1955, a forty-two-year-old black woman named Rosa Parks got on a bus in Montgomery. Instead of going to the back of the bus, she sat down in a seat at the front. The bus driver told her to move. But Rosa Parks refused, and she was arrested.
ROSA PARKS
ROSA PARKS WAS BORN IN TUSKEGEE, ALABAMA, On FEBRUARY 4, 1913. AFTER ROSA’S PARENTS SEPARATED, SHE AND HER MOTHER MOVED TO THE FARM WHERE ROSA’S GRANDPARENTS LIVED. ROSA WAS HOMESCHOOLED UNTIL SHE WAS ELEVEN. SHE BEGAN HIGH SCHOOL, BUT SHE HAD TO DROP OUT TO TAKE CARE OF HER SICK GRANDMOTHER. IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER SHE WAS MARRIED THAT SHE FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL.
BY 1943, ROSA HAD BECOME ACTIVE In THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. SHE JOINED HER LOCAL NAACP CHAPTER AND THE VOTERS’ LEAGUE.
ROSA WORKED AS A SEAMSTRESS AT A DEPARTMENT STORE. SHE RODE THE PUBLIC BUS TO AND FROM WORK. AFTER HER ARREST On DECEMBER 1, 1955, SHE SPENT THE NIGHT In JAIL. SOME PEOPLE SAID THAT ROSA DID NOT GIVE UP HER SEAT BECAUSE SHE WAS TIRED. ROSA SAID THAT THEY WERE RIGHT-SHE WAS TIRED OF GIVING In!
ALMOST ONE HUNDRED YEARS EARLIER, THE CIVIL WAR HAD ENDED AND SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED. BLACK PEOPLE WERE NO LONGER SLAVES, BUT In MANY PLACES REAL CHANGE DID NOT COME UNTIL THE 1950S AND 1960S, WHEN MORE BLACK PEOPLE BEGAN DEMANDING THEIR RIGHTS. MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT ROSA PARKS’S PROTEST---THAT ONE LITTLE ACT-WAS THE START OF THE MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
Black leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., met to discuss Rosa Parks’s arrest. Martin and the others came up with a plan. They would not ride the city buses to school or to work. This kind of protest is called a boycott. If the blacks of Montgomery stopped riding the buses, then the bus company would lose money. Perhaps then the government would change the laws.
Monday, December 5, 1955, was the day the boycott began. Since Monday was the start of a new school and workweek, people would have to take cabs or find rides in cars. Some would even have to walk. But Martin believed the boycott would send a strong message. If black people couldn’t sit wherever they wanted, they would refuse to take the buses.
On Monday morning, Coretta and Martin woke up early. They peeked out the window to look outside at the bus stop. A bus pulled up. It was empty! Martin jumped into his car and drove around the city. Almost all the black people he saw were riding in cars or walking. Later he learned some had to walk more than ten miles to get to where they were going!
The first day of the boycott was a tremendous success. But it needed to continue. People would have to give up riding the buses the next day, and the next day after that. They had to continue the boycott until the law changed.
White leaders in the Montgomery city government were angry. The city buses were losing money. But, still, the leaders did not want to change the laws. Instead, they tried making things harder for black people. The police commissioner told the taxi companies to charge higher fares so that it would be too expensive for most people to take taxis. They would have no choice but to walk.
But Martin and the other black leaders had a plan. They helped organize car pools. Many people—both black and white—volunteered to drive people taking part in the boycott. It was a good example of peaceful protest. Peaceful protest, however, also could be dangerous.
Martin was arrested by the local police. They said he was speeding in his car. Martin knew that he was not. The police wanted to scare him into stopping the bus boycott. Then a firebomb was thrown onto the porch of his house. Martin was frightened for his family. But that did not stop him.
The boycott lasted over a year. Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States said that laws separating whites and blacks on the Montgomery buses had to end.
Martin was overjoyed. Now it was time for people to ride the buses again—sitting wherever they wanted! Early in the morning on December 21, 1956, three other leaders of the boycott came to Martin’s house.
Reporters followed the men as they walked to the nearest bus stop. The reporters shouted out questions. Cameras flashed in Martin’s face. This was a momentous day. When the bus arrived, Martin and the other leaders got on. The reporters followed. Martin took a seat right up front. On his face was a great big smile.
|