Montgomery Bus Boycott and Southern Christian Leadership Conference

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Role of Woman’s Political Council in Montgomery Bus Boycott

Woman’s Political Council is one of the leading organizations that fight for racial discrimination to end. They are a fully supportive group for the deletion of racial boundaries in society. The organization was founded in Alabama in 1946. The organization was formed to address the racial issues in the city (Levy, 2015). Since then, it has always helped the black people and those of other races not considered superior who is not valued to get a place in society. When they get their rightful position, they can be proud and happy about their race to find their proper place in the community and stop being afraid of their race. The organization was the first to call people and predominantly black Americans to protest against racial segregation in Alabama’s bus transit system. This protest was carried out for eleven months, and the woman’s political council was the one spearheading this boycott (Burns, 2012). 

The campaign began on December 5th, 1955, after a black woman refused to give her seat to a white person. The council was involved in this campaign in so many different ways, and some of these ways were; providing transport to those who wanted to protest against this social menace that was happening at that particular time. They also created awareness that racial discrimination was terrible and there had to be justice and equality among all people without having racial barriers. The boycott lasted for 13 months. It led the United States supreme court to declare that the treatment of black people with lesser respect and dignity than the white people in public transport was unconstitutional and had to stop (Brooks, 2008). Therefore, Alabama had to bring the laws put into place down and make sure that black people were given the same respect as white people. Consequently, it can be concluded that the relationship between these two is very close and one which made history in the fight for human rights, especially those embedded within racial confines.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Southern Christian Leadership Conference is very well known because its first president was Martin Luther King junior. This conference is closed related to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Rustin first conceived the group to find the rightful place in society by trying peaceful boycotts and demonstrations to gain a political, social, and economic balance between the whites and the blacks. Therefore, Rustin got his idea and the desire to make a change from the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He worked closely with king, Ella baker, Fred Shuttles worth, Ralph Abernathy, and Joseph Lowery, who held key positions in the first group. Through these individuals’ efforts, the king called for the first meeting, which comprised around 60 black ministers. The meeting began on January 10th, 1957, and ended with a press conference on the 11th of the same month and year. The first name given to the group was the Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration (Fairclough, 2001). 

The goals southern Christian leadership conference was to fight for the rights of the black population generally. The purpose of fighting for the black population’s requests was to be achieved through the conference’s efforts. These included ending segregation, gaining equal protection and opportunity for the blacks before the law, acquiring voting rights for blacks, promoting non-violence in the demonstrations and boycotts to achieve social equality and justice between the whites and the blacks. This group’s strategies were very well declared, and their primary way of doing things was peace. Therefore, every time they organized anything, they had to strategize and make sure that peace was availed at all costs and make sure that the upkeep of the law was possible and keenly followed by their members (King, 1986).

References

Brooks, P. E. (2008). Boycotts, buses, and passes: Black women’s resistance in the US South and South Africa. University of Massachusetts Press.

Burns, S. (Ed.). (2012). Daybreak of freedom: the Montgomery bus boycott. Univ of North Carolina Press.

Fairclough, A. (2001). To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr. University of Georgia Press.

King Jr, M. L. (1986). the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr, 4, 358-360.

Levy, P. B. (Ed.). (2015). The Civil Rights Movement in America: From Black Nationalism to the Women’s Political Council: From Black Nationalism to the Women’s Political Council. ABC-CLIO.