Just over 60 years ago on December 1st, 1955, an African-American woman named Rosa Parks

refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on the city bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

They drove her, said that if I refuse to leave the seat, he would have to call the police

and I told him just call the police.

Parks was arrested for violating segregation laws.

This news soon reached a little-known Baptist minister named Martin Luther King Jr.

And we had a meeting at my church the next night and discuss ways of dealing with this

and protesting such a grave injustice.

And that time we decided that we would have a bus barcode beginning on Monday, December

5th.

King became the lead organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott, the first major organized action

against racial segregation in the United States.

At present we are in the midst of a protest in the Negro citizens of Montgomery representing

some 44% of the population, 90% at least of the regular Negro bus passengers are staying

off the buses and we plan to continue until something is done.

King and his allies set up carpools and other ways for people to get around.

A few days after we started the bus officials wanted to end segregation almost immediately

because they were losing so much money a day.

But the City Commission held out contending that on the basis of the city ordinances and

on the basis of state laws they could not and they would not integrate the buses.

The Montgomery bus boycott lasted for 381 days.

Finally the Supreme Court's decision came declaring bus segregation unconstitutional and this

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