| 
| |
|
More
than 500 historic articles from the Montgomery Bus Boycott
(1955-1957) are archived here.
For
casual browsing, below are some suggested keywords to
search. Click any of the the words below to initiate
an automatic search or scroll down for some sample stories.
Bomb,
King,
Boycott,
Negro,
Nixon,
Bus,
Klan,
MASS,
MIA,
White
Citizens Council, Ralph
Abernathy, Fields,
Coretta
Scott King, Fred
Gray
|
Selected stories from the Montgomery Advertiser archives.
SEGREGATION
CASE RESET FOR MARCH 18
March 10, 1955
The trial of a 15-year old Negro girl who was charged with
violating segregation laws by refusing to yield her seat to
a white person on a City Lines bus has been rescheduled for
March 18. It originally had been set for 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.
A juvenile court hearing for Claudette Colvin, charged with
assault and battery, disorderly conduct and violating the
city segregation law was postponed due to the death of the
sister of Juvenile Court Judge Wiley Hill.
NEGRO GROUPS
READY BOYCOTT OF CITY LINES
December 4, 1955
A 'top secret" meeting of Montgomery Negroes who plan
a boycott of city buses Monday is scheduled at 7 p.m. at the
Holt Street Baptist Church for "further instructions"
in an economic reprisal" campaign against segregation
on city buses, The Advertiser learned last night. The campaign,
modeled along the lines of the White Citizens Council program,
was initiated by unidentified Negro leaders after a Negro
woman, Rosa parks, was arrested.
NEGRESS DRAWS
FINE SEGREGATION CASE INVOLVING BUS RIDE
December 5, 1955
A Negro woman was fined $10 and cost in police court here
today for violation a state law requiring racial segregation
on city buses. Rosa Parks, 634 Cleveland Ave., a seamstress
at a downtown store, did not testify. Negro Atty. Fred D.
Gray informed Recorder's Court Judge John B Scott he would
appeal the decision to Montgomery Circuit Court. A few minutes
later, Gray signed a $100 appeal bond for his client. Also
signing the woman's appeal bond was E. D. Nixon.
THE MECHANICS
OF THE BUS BOYCOTT
January 10, 1956
A young white minister clad in the vestments of the Lutheran
Church stood in his pulpit on a Sunday last month and calmly
urged his congregation to give its fullest support to the
Negro boycott of Montgomery buses. He told of his plans to
make his own car available to a "share the ride"
pool organized to transport Negroes unable to afford taxis,
and indicated he was about to assume an active part in the
conduct of the boycott.
CITY COMMISSION
LAUDED FOR BUS BOYCOTT STAND
January 24, 1956
City Commission said today they were swamped with "hundreds"
of messages congratulating them on the boycott stand taken
late yesterday. And the tenor of the calls indicate that retaliatory
measures are being considered against Negro employees participating
in the seven-week-old boycott. Commissioner Frank Parks said
he had received "dozens of calls from businessmen"
who said they were going to "lay off Negro employees...
BOMB ROCKS RESIDENCE
OF BUS BOYCOTT LEADER - None Injured After Bombing Of Kings
Home
January 31, 1956
A bomb tossed on the porch of the home of the Rev. M. L. King,
Negro boycott leader, 309 S. Jackson St. about 9:15 last night
shattered windows, ripped a hole in the porch and cracked
a porch column. No one was injured Neighbors reported that
a light colored automobile was seen at the time of the explosion.
It was believed to have stopped in front of the home as a
man got out and placed or tossed the bomb on the porch.
89 ENTER NOT GUILTY
PLEAS TO BUS BOYCOTT INDICTMENT
February 24, 1956
Each of the 89 Negroes arraigned before Circuit Judge Eugene
Carter today on grand jury charges of entering into an unlawful
boycott against City Lines Bus Co. entered a plea of innocent.
A total of 16 cases - mostly "duplicate" indictments
- were nolle prossed. The indictment against one defendant,
Rev. A. W. Wilson, was nolle prossed because his appearance
before the grand jury granted him immunity from prosecution.
NEGROES DENIED
PERMIT FOR BUS LINE
April 3, 1956
Leaders of the racial boycott against Montgomery City Lines
buses asked in vain yesterday for permission to operate an
all-Negro bus line in Montgomery. The City Commission turned
them down with the observation that the boycotted Montgomery
City Lines Inc. is offering "excellent bus service for
the entire city" and the "45 or 50 buses are now
standing empty." Negroes for 19 weeks have refused to
ride the segregated City Lines buses...
BOYCOTT 'POOL'
DENIED CAR INSURANCE POLICIES
September 17, 1956
A white minister charged last night that local insurance firms
are indiscriminately canceling policies held by Negroes operating
vehicles in a Negro bus boycott pool. The Rev. Robert Graetz,
pastor of a Negro Lutheran church and active participant in
the 10-month-old boycott, said the move was designed to break
the racial protest. Insurance officials quickly denied the
charge.
SUPREME
COURT OUTLAWS BUS SEGREGATION
November 14, 1956
Laws requiring racial segregation on buses in Montgomery and
throughout Alabama were declared unconstitutional yesterday
in another historic decision by the U. S. Supreme Court. And
while the decision dealt specifically with Alabama statutes
and ordinances of the City of Montgomery, in effect it also
outlawed similar segregation laws throughout the South since
this ruling sets the precedent for all similar cases in the
future.
BUS DESEGREGATION
ORDER SERVED HERE; NEGROES VOTE TO CALL OFF BOYCOTT TODAY
December 21, 1956
Montgomery Negroes joyous at arrival here yesterday of a Supreme
Court mandate ending segregation on city buses, voted last
night to end their 12-month bus boycott this morning. City
and state officials gave no indication that any action would
be taken to circumvent the integration of the buses. Within
recent weeks both the city commission and Public Service Commission
President Jack Owen have intimated that "legal"
means to get around the integration of buses would...
BOYCOTT LEADERS
TAKE DESEGREGATED BUS RIDE
December 21, 1956
"That was a might good ride." "It was a great
ride." The comments came from the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy
and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., respectively, as they
stood in Court Square just after completing their first ride
on an integrated bus at 7:20 a.m. today. The two top officials
of the Montgomery Improvement Association boarded the South
Jackson Street bus at Key Street and South Jackson. King took
the third seat from the front...
NEGRO CHURCHES,
RESIDENCES SUFFER $50,000 BOMB DAMAGE
January 11, 1957
Damage estimates on yesterday's early morning bombings of
Negro residences and churches ranged from $50,000 upward and
two churches have been condemned temporarily. Insurance adjusters
reported at least a dozen claims on which they were working,
but no insurors could be found for the Bell Street and Mt.
Olive Baptist Churches - the worst hit. The two also were
reported unusable by Fire Chief Robert L. Lampley following
an official inspection.
CITY SEEKS RULING
ON PLAN TO START WHITE BUS SYSTEM
January 26, 1957
Reports of an all-white transportation system became official
here yesterday as the Montgomery City Commission petitioned
U.S. District Court to learn if a "club" bus line
can operate legally. City attorneys filed the petition asking
U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. if the city can legally
issue a franchise to a "private" bus system in the
face of the Supreme Court's ban on racial bus segregation
here.
|
|
|
|
The following articles appeared in the Montgomery
Advertiser in 1955-1957 and are provided courtesy of the
Associated Press.
INDICTMENTS ANTICIPATED
BY BUS BOYCOTT LEADER
Rev. M. L. King, Jr. told Chicago newsmen yesterday that he
doesn't doubt that Montgomery County grand jury "will indict
some of us" for taking part in the 12-week-old Negro boycott
of buses, Associated Press
reported today.And the young pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist
Church also repeated the statement that boycott leaders will
confer shortly to decide whether to call off the boycott.
BOYCOTT ISSUE BEING
AIRED BY GRAND JURY
A state law originally aimed at labor disputes may be used
next week to indict some of participants in the continuing
Negro boycott of Montgomery City Lines buses.The Montgomery
County Grand Jury, with authority to recommend stiff fines
and jail sentences, is expected to make a report Monday or
Tuesday climaxing a week-long investigation of the anti-segregation
protest.
NEGRO
DEMO SOLON WANTS CIVIL RIGHTS
DETROIT (AP) - Rep. Diggs (D-Mich) says he will quit the party
if he doesn't get "straight talk from the next Democratic presidential
candidate about his civil rights views." The Negro Detroit congressman
said last night he will demand "the right to vote for Southern
Negroes, an end to the intimidation of Negro citizens and the
creation of a special civil rights division in the Justice Department."
50 NEGRO PASTORS
PROTEST 'NATIONAL PRAYER DAY' IDEA
NEW YORK (AP) - A group of Negro pastors of more than 50 Long
Island Baptist churches has charged Rep. Adam Clayton Powell
(D-NY) was politically motivated in promoting a "national deliverance
day of prayer."
PRESIDENT
GETS QUESTION ON MONTGOMERY TRIALS
WASHINGTON, March 21 (AP) - President Eisenhower in a press
conference yesterday discussed Montgomery's bus boycott trials
in answering a question of a New York newspaperman.
SCATTERED U.S. POINTS
OBSERVE 'DAY OF PRAYER'
Negroes and white sympathizers in scattered cities paused for
quiet prayer Wednesday on behalf of Montgomery, Ala. Bus boycotters.
The national demonstration apparently was spotty in nature.
There was no estimate of the total number taking part.
NATIONAL CITY FIRM
DROPS SEGREGATION ON ALL BUS LINES
CHICAGO (AP) - National City Lines Inc., which operates city
bus lines in several Southern states, made known today that
it will not "enforce segregation" on the buses.
CITY
THREATENS ARRESTS HERE TO ENFORCE BUS SEGREGATION
Racial segregation on Montgomery city buses was abolished today
in face of defiant protests from city and state officials.
ANGRY CITY BUS
DRIVER TREATENS AP STAFFER
An angry city bus driver yesterday threatened an Associated Press photographer who attempted to take
a picture of his bus under the new racial integration policy.
3-JUDGE PANEL
TO HEAR SEGREGATION CHALLENGE HERE
The lengthening Negro boycott of city buses in Montgomery may
produce the first clear-cut decision from the Supreme Court
on bus segregation.
GRAY'S
DRAFT STATUS IS UP FOR DECISION
WASHINGTON (AP) - Selective Service said today the draft status
of Fred D. Gray, Negro attorney, active in the bus boycott situation
in Montgomery, Ala., has been put up to the Presidential Appeals
Board for a decision.
NAACP
LAWYERS MEET TODAY TO MAP REPLY TO INJUNCTION
JACKSON, Miss., June 3 (AP) - NAACP attorneys are to meet in
New York tomorrow to begin preparations for answering the Alabama
injunction granted Friday against the organization doing business
in that state, Roy Wilkins, the executive secretary of NAACP
stated here today.
NAACP
PLANS COURT ACTION FOR REVERSAL OF INJUNCTION
NEW YORK, June 4 (AP) - Atty. Thurgood Marshall said today court
action will be taken - in due time - to try to reverse an Alabama
injunction against the National Assn. for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP).
NEGROES
FORM NEW GROUP REPLACING BANNED NAACP
BIRMINGHAM (AP) - Cheering Negroes hailed a new organizaion
last night, designed to replace the outlawed National Assn.
for the Advancement of Colored People in Alabama.
NEGRO LEADERS ADVISE
CAUTION IN BUS BOYCOTTS
Negro leaders advised caution today in two Florida cities where
there has been talk of bus boycotts similar to those at Montgomery,
Ala., and Tallahassee, Fla.
HOUSE
DEFEATS EFFORT TO KILL 'RIGHT 'BILL
WASHINGTON, July 19 (AP) - The House refused today to kill the
civil rights bill. It also defeated a move to strip the bill
of everything but authority to set up an investigating commission.
U.S. COURT
SET TO AIR RACIAL CASES
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (AP) - The Supreme Court today began a session
that may go far in determining the country's future course in
the field of civil rights.
QUESTION
MARK PUT ON CAR POOL CASE
A Negro leader said today a decision on whether to end the Montgomery
bus boycott in view of the Supreme Court ruling outlawing bus
segregation laws will be made at a mass meeting here tomorrow
night.
Supreme
Court Rejects Plea Of City, State Tribunal Votes Unanimously
Acts, Unconstitutional
WASHINGTON, (AP) - The Supreme Court today upheld a decision
holding unconstitutional Alabama and Montgomery, Ala., laws
requiring racial segregation on buses. The decision, by a special
three judge U.S. District Court in Montgomery, was appealed
by the city's Board of Commissioners and by the Alabama Public
Service Commission. Each filed separate appeals.
SOUTHERN
LEADERS WILL AWAIT SEPARATE TESTS OF BUS LAWS
The U.S. Supreme Court's latest ruling on the explosive issue
of race mixing-banning segregation on state and city buses-brought
quick reaction Tuesday from state and municipal government spokesmen
in the South.
DESEGREGATION
RULING
The Alabama Legislature doesn't meet until next May, but some
members are already searching for ways to preserve bus segregation
in the face of last Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling.
Parley Called By Brownell
To Map Action Jurist Denies Move for Early Integration
WASHINGTON (AP) - Justice Black of the Supreme Court today
refused to order immediate issuance of the court's notice
of a decision ending racial segregation in local buses.
CLARIFICATION OF BUS
RULING ASKED BY CITY
The city of Montgomery yesterday petitioned the U.S. Supreme
Court in Washington, D.C., for a "clarification" of its Nov.
13 decision banning racial segregation on local buses.
ATTORNEYS GATHER
TO DISCUSS BUS SEGREGATION LAWS
WASHINGTON (AP) - thirty-three U. S. District attorneys
from 14 Southern and border states assemble here today to
discuss what they should do about laws in those states requiring
racial segregation on buses.
'SCHOOL' PREPARES
NEGROES FOR MASS RETURN TO BUSES
Negroes awaiting the end of bus segregation in Montgomery
are being schooled by their leaders to remain peaceful "even
if others strike first."
CITY-STATE BUS APPEALS
DENIED
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court today refused to
reconsider its Nov. 13 decision banning racial segregation
on local buses.
FOLSOM MAY SEEK STRONGER
SEGREGATION LAWS
There is increasing speculation James E. Folsom will recommend
strong new racial segregation laws when the Alabama Legislature
meets in May.
|
