492

 THE LEGACY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: THE MONTGOMERY
BUS BOYCOTT (1955-1956), THE BELOVED COMMUNITY, AND THE
NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE


iii
PLAGIARISM
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained
and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

The United States faced one of the crucial social movements in the second half
of the twentieth century. The Civil Rights Movement, symbolizing the struggle
for equality and justice, was the revival of the country's founding principles in a
way. This study primarily aims to reconsider Martin Luther King Jr., as one of
the notable figures of the recent United States history, and his legacy by referring
to The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955), the beloved community and nonviolent
resistance. This thesis will argue the images of King's religious affiliations and
duties on his course of action. In this study, The Boycott, which boosts the Civil
Rights Movement, will be examined by benefitting from two newspapers, called
The Washington Star (Evening Star) and Arizona Sun, which are based on
different stances. This study will also consider propaganda posters, photographs,
court records, memoirs, speeches, and letters to analyze the Boycott and King’s
leadership. This thesis will ask if another way would be possible without civil
disobedience and reveal the importance of the course of action in evaluating the
struggle of King Jr. and African Americans.
v
Keywords: The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King Jr., The Beloved
Community, Nonviolent Resistance
vi
ÖZ
MARTİN LUTHER KİNG JR.’IN MİRASI: MONTGOMERY OTOBÜS
BOYKOTU (1955), MUTEBER TOPLUM VE PASİF DİRENİŞ

Amerika Birleşik Devletleri yirminci yüzyılın ikinci yarısında en önemli
toplumsal hareketlerden biriyle karşı karşıya kaldı. Eşitlik ve adalet mücadelesini
simgeleyen Sivil Haklar Hareketi, bir anlamda ülkenin kuruluş ilkelerinin
dirilişiydi. Bu çalışma öncelikle, yakın dönem Amerika tarihinin önemli
isimlerinden biri olan Martin Luther King Jr.'ı ve mirasını, muteber toplum ve
pasif direniş konseptlerini; Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu'na (1955) atıfta
bulunarak yeniden değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu tez, King'in hareket
tarzına ilişkin dini aidiyetlerinin ve görevlerinin imajlarını da tartışacaktır. Bu
çalışmada, farklı duruşlara dayanan The Washington Star (Evening Star) ve
Arizona Sun adlı iki gazeteden yararlanılarak Sivil Haklar Hareketi'ni öne
çıkaran boykot incelenecektir. Bu çalışmada ayrıca, boykotu ve King'in
liderliğini analiz etmek için propaganda afişleri, fotoğraflar, mahkeme kayıtları,
hatıralar, konuşmalar ve mektuplar ele alınacaktır. Bu tez, sivil itaatsizlik
olmadan başka bir yolun mümkün olup olmayacağını soracak ve King Jr. ile
Afrikalı Amerikalıların mücadelesini değerlendirirken eylem tarzının önemini
ortaya koyacaktır.
vii
Anahtar Kelimeler: Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Muteber Toplum, Pasif Direniş
viii
DEDICATION
To the founder of the modern Turkish republic,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An immense thank you to my thesis advisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahar Gürsel. She
consistently allowed this paper to be my own work but steered me in the right
direction whenever she thought I needed it. Her guidance and advice carried me
through all the stages of writing my thesis. I would also like to thank my
committee members, Asst. Prof. Tarık Tansu Yiğit and Prof. Recep Boztemur,
for letting my defense be an enjoyable moment, and for their brilliant comments
and suggestions.
I would also like to thank my beloved family for their continuous support and
understanding when undertaking my research and writing my thesis. It would be
an understatement to say that, as a family, we have experienced some ups and
downs in the past three years. Every time I was ready to quit, they did not let me,
and I am forever grateful. This dissertation stands as a testament to their
unconditional love and encouragement.
Getting through my dissertation required more than academic support. I would
like to express my gratitude to Cansu Aksoy and Göksel Üstündağ. Without their
tremendous understanding and encouragement over the past few years, it would
be impossible for me to complete my study.
Finally, I express my gratitude to Ceren Karlav for providing me with unfailing
support and continuous encouragement through the process of researching and
writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without
her.
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PLAGIARISM ................................................................................................. iii
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... iv
ÖZ .................................................................................................................... vi
DEDICATION ............................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... x
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... xii
CHAPTERS
1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1
1.1. Literature Review .................................................................................... 5
2. AWAKENING .............................................................................................. 9
2.1. Laws Protecting or Eliminating Racism and Social Polarization in the
United States ......................................................................................... 16
2.1.1. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) .................................................. 23
2.2. No Alternative: The Turnover for a Better Future .................................. 30
2.3. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of
Hope” .............................................................................................. 47
3. TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: THE BELOVED COMMUNITY
AND NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE ......................................................... 65
4. MONTGOMERY: A CITY THAT CHANGED UNITED STATES ............ 75
4.1. Rosa Parks: Sitting for Awakening ........................................................ 86
4.2. The Boycott and Martin Luther King Jr.: Keeping Alive ........................ 99
4.3. The Boycott in the Newspapers: The Example of Arizona Sun and
Evening Star (Washington Star) ............................................................118
4.3.1. Arizona Sun...................................................................................... 121
4.3.2. Evening Star (Washington Star) ........................................................ 133
5. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................144
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................150
xi
APPENDICES
A. TURKISH SUMMARY / TÜRKÇE ÖZET ............................................... 171
B. THESIS PERMISSION FORM / TEZ İZİN FORMU ................................ 183
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. National Archives, United We Win, Photograph by Alexander
Liberman, 1943, Printed by the Government, Printing Office for
the War Manpower Commission, Records of the Office of
Government Reports. Retrieved from
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers-of-persuasion .
Date of Access: 23rd April 2021. ...................................................... 13
Figure 2. Parents and students heading from Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's office
in Midtown to City Hall during a pro-integration boycott that kept
over a third of the city's roughly one million students out of school.
Feb. 3, 1964. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/nyregion/school-segregationnew-
york.html . ................................................................................. 15
Figure 3. Plessy vs. Ferguson, Judgement, Decided May 18, 1896; Records
of the Supreme Court of the United States; Record Group 267;
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163, accessed on July 1, 2022 on
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/plessy-v-ferguson . . 17
Figure 4. "Come, let us take counsel together" Attend NAACP Wartime
Conference for Total Peace, Chicago, July 12-16 / / E. Fax, '44.
Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.loc.gov/item/2010648420/ . ........................................... 19
Figure 5. At the bus station in Durham, North Carolina. Delano, Jack.
Created / Published 1940 May. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017747598/ . ........................................... 22
Figure 6. Page 11 of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board
of Education of Topeka. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brownv-
board-1.html. ................................................................................. 25
Figure 7. First page of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v.
xiii
Board of Education of Topeka (Records of the Supreme Court of the
United States, RG 267). Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brown-vboard-
1.html . .................................................................................... 26
Figure 8. The Topeka State Journal reported the historic May 17, 1954,
decision that segregation in public schools must end. (Records of
District Courts of the United States, RG 21, NARA–Central Plains
Region [Kansas City]). Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brownv-
board-1.html. .................................................................................. 29
Figure 9. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Leffler, Warren K., "[African
American demonstrators..." 12 March 1965. Accessed on 23rd April
2021 on https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educatorresources/
primary-source-sets/right-to-vote-suffrage-womenafrican/
african-american. ................................................................... 36
Figure 10. SNCC Poster, 1963.Photo by Danny Lyon. Civil Rights Movement
Archive. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.nps.gov/articles/civil-rights-movement-archive.htm. ...... 37
Figure 11. During the 1950's America came out of a victorious war and a
depression and entered the Golden Age. Accessed on 23rd April 2021
on https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1005spring2011/tag/golden-age/ .
.......................................................................................................... 39
Figure 12. Members of the 'Washington Freedom Riders Committee,' en route
to Washington, D.C., hang signs from bus windows to protest
segregation, New York, 1961. Copyprint. New York World-Telegram
and Sun Collection, Prints and Photographs Division. Accessed on
23rd April 2021 on
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civilrights/exhibit.html . ...................... 41
Figure 13. Martin Luther King, Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia, February 1968. Accessed on 23rd
April 2021 on https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-objectpage.
194796.html. ............................................................................. 43
xiv
Figure 14. Civil rights march on Washington, D.C., 1963 Aug. 28. Accessed
on 23rd April 2021 on https://www.loc.gov/item/2003654393/. ...... 45
Figure 15. Civil Rights Act of 1964. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act............ 46
Figure 16. MLK to LKG, April 24, 1962. Retrieved from
https://etseq.law.harvard.edu/2013/01/852-rare-a-letter-frommartin-
luther-king-jr/dscf1359/ . Date of Access: 23rd April 2021. .. 49
Figure 17. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at an antiwar demonstration
in New York in April 1967, with Dr. Benjamin Spock to his right.
Credit...Agence France-Presse. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/opinion/when-martin-lutherking-
came-out-against-vietnam.html. Date of Access: 23rd April
2021. .............................................................................................. 52
Figure 18. Communist training school. Retrieved from
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/communism. Date
of Access: 23rd April 2021. ............................................................. 53
Figure 19. Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. Retrieved from
https://www.jfklibrary.org/assetviewer/
archives/JFKWHCNF/1478/JFKWHCNF-1478-
015?image_identifier=JFKWHCNF-1478-015-p0001. Date of
Access: 23rd April 2021. ................................................................ 57
Figure 20. Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers. Retrieved from:
https://www.jfklibrary.org/assetviewer/
archives/JFKWHCNF/1478/JFKWHCNF-1478-
015?image_identifier=JFKWHCNF-1478-015-p0001 . Date of
Access: 23rd April 2021. ................................................................. 58
Figure 21. Telegram sent by Martin Luther King Jr. when asked to endorse
John F. Kennedy or Richard M. Nixon in the presidential election,
1960. Retrieved from https://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/californiadigital-
archives/toward-the-fulfillment-of-the-dream. Date of
Access: 23rd April 2021. ................................................................ 60
xv
Figure 22. On October 27, 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a group
of students, faculty, and members of the community at the McMillin
Theatre (now Miller Theatre) at the invitation of The Columbia Owl,
a then-weekly publication of the School of General Studies.
Retrieved from https://afamstudies.columbia.edu/news/
remembering-martin-luther-kings-speech-columbia. Date of
Access: 23rd April 2021. ................................................................. 62
Figure 23. Marchers with signs at the March on Washington, 1963, Retrieved
from: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.37229/ . Date of
Access: 23rd April 2021. .................................................................. 63
Figure 24. Vacation Bible School graduation at the Salvation Army Citadel in
Montgomery, Alabama. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/
26503 . ............................................................................................ 78
Figure 25. One Man, One Vote” signs & watchful police, 03/17-18/1965,
Montgomery. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/03/marching-in-montgomery-
1965-reconsidered/. ......................................................................... 78
Figure 26. The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery p.61. Accessed on
25 June 2022 on https://www.montgomeryal.gov/ . ......................... 80
Figure 27. The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery p.61. Accessed on
25 June 2022 on https://www.montgomeryal.gov/ . ......................... 81
Figure 28. Characteristics of the Population, U.S. Summary, General Social
and Economic Characteristics, 1960. .............................................. 82
Figure 29. The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery p.8. Accessed on
25 June 2022 on https://www.montgomeryal.gov/ . ......................... 84
Figure 31. Police Report, December 1, 1955, Page 2 Civil Case 1147 Browder,
et al v. Gayle, et. al; U.S. District Court for Middle District of
Alabama. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks. .................. 88
Figure 32. Illustration of bus where Rosa Parks sat. Accessed on 23rd April on
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks. .................. 90
xvi
Figure 33. Raymond and Rosa Parks’s 1955 Income Tax Return, 1956. Rosa
Parks Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. Accessed
on 23rd April 2022 on https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parksin-
her-own-words/about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/1955-
income-tax-return/ . ........................................................................ 91
Figure 34. Montgomery Fair date book, 1955–1956. Rosa Parks Papers,
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, accessed on 23rd April
2022 on https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-ownwords/
about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/carpool-notebook/ . .... 93
Figure 35. During the boycott, many buses on the road had few passengers.
(Photo taken in 1956 by Dan Weiner, accessed on 23rd April 2022
on https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/02/11/podcast-montgomerybus-
boycott-womens-political-council/ . ......................................... 95
Figure 36. Rosa Parks Papers: Events. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss85943.001906/?sp=2&r=-
0.536,0.061,1.933,0.945,0............................................................... 97
Figure 37. NAACP Atlantic City Branch flyer advertising a lecture by Rosa
Parks, November 16, 1956. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/
about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/naacp-v-alabama-1958/ . ...... 98
Figure 38. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph Abernathy,
Ebenezer Baptist Church During Bus Boycott. Accessed on 23rd
April 2022 on https://www.si.edu/object/rosa-parks-martin-lutherking-
jr-and-ralph-abernathy-ebenezer-baptist-church-during-busboycott:
nmaahc_2011.49.11 . ........................................................100
Figure 39. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. at mass meeting in local
church. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Accessed
on 23rd April 2022 on https://www.si.edu/object/rosa-parks-andmartin-
luther-king-jr:npg_NPG.2009.4 . ........................................102
xvii
Figure 40. Notice to the "Montgomery Public" from "the Negro citizens of
Montgomery" explaining their reasons for the Montgomery bus
boycott. Alabama Digital Collections. Accessed on 23rd April 2022
on https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/
6470 . ............................................................................................ 105
Figure 41. Envelope of the Montgomery Improvement Association
membership campaign. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/
6403/rec/1 . ................................................................................... 106
Figure 42. Program for a mass meeting of the MIA at the Mount Zion A.M.E.
Zion Church. Accessed on 23rd April on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/
2021/rec/209 ................................................................................. 107
Figure 43. Copy of the transcript of State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr., et al,
which was made for Attorney General John Patterson in preparation
for an appeal of the verdict. Accessed on 23rd April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/
16043/rec/214 . .............................................................................. 109
Figure 44. Telegram from Sol Diamond, vice president and treasurer of
Diamond Brothers in Trenton, New Jersey, to Judge Eugene W.
Carter in Montgomery, Alabama. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/
1944/rec/218 ................................................................................. 110
Figure 45. Program for a mass meeting of the MIA at Holt Street Baptist
Church. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/
2023/rec/221.................................................................................. 112
Figure 46. Program for the Institute on Non-violence and Social Change, the
annual mass meeting of the Montgomery Improvement
Association. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/
6401/rec/222.................................................................................. 115
xviii
Figure 47. Integrated Bus Suggestions, Inez Jessie Baskin Papers, Alabama
Department of Archives and History. Accessed on 23rd April 2022
on https://archives.alabama.gov/teacher/rights/lesson1/doc7.html. .117
Figure 48. “Jim Crow Bus Boycott Hits Co. Pocketbook”, Arizona Sun, page
4, January 20, 1956 ........................................................................121
Figure 49. “Alabama “Prayer-Pilgrimage” Held by Negroes as Protest”,
Arizona Sun, page 1, February 24, 1956 .........................................122
Figure 50. “Goodwill Group Spreads Whispering-Prayer Campaign”,
Arizona Sun, March 1,1956............................................................124
Figure 51. “Open Letter to Civil Rights Assembly in Washington”, Arizona
Sun, page 4, March 15, 1956 ..........................................................126
Figure 52. “Need $3,000 A Week to Help in Carpool Protest Movement”,
Arizona Sun, March 29, 1956 .........................................................127
Figure 53. Arizona Sun, April 5, 1956 .............................................................128
Figure 54. “Rev. M. L. King Loses Case in Alabama”, Arizona Sun, page 1,
May 31, 1956 ................................................................................129
Figure 55. “Chicago and Detroit Aid Montgomery Carpool”, Arizona Sun,
May 24, 1956 ................................................................................130
Figure 56. “NAACP Convention Sidetracks Boycott Issue”, Arizona Sun,
page 3, July 19, 1956 .....................................................................131
Figure 57. “Supreme Court Kills Jim Crow on Southern Buses”, Arizona
Sun, November 22, 1956 ................................................................132
Figure 58. “Negro Minister’s Home in Alabama Bombed”, Evening Star,
page A-9, January 31, 1956 ...........................................................133
Figure 59. “Negro Lawyer Indicted in Montgomery Boycott”, Evening Star,
page A-21, February 19, 1956........................................................134
Figure 60. “Negroes in Alabama City Refuse to End Bus Boycott”, Evening
Star, page A-5, February 21, 1956 .................................................135
Figure 61. “Text of Negro Bishops’ Resolution on Boycott”, Evening Star,
page A-3, February 26, 1956 .........................................................136
Figure 62. “Church Groups Protest Negro Ministers’ Arrest”, Evening Star,
page A-10, February 28, 1956........................................................138
xix
Figure 63. “Negroes Extend Bus Boycott”, Evening Star, page A-16,
April 27, 1956 ............................................................................... 139
Figure 64. “NAACP Outlawed by Alabama Court as Boycott Backer”,
Evening Star, page A-23, June 1, 1956 .......................................... 140
Figure 65. “NAACP Ready to Abide by Alabama Injunction”, Evening Star,
page A-2, June 2, 1956 .................................................................. 141
Figure 66. “Bus Segregation Forces Have 9 Days to Appeal” Evening Star,
page B-21, June 20, 1956 .............................................................. 142
Figure 67. “Boycott Lawyer Gets Draft Call”, Evening Star, page A-20,
August 7, 1956 .............................................................................. 143

1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
I believe the Indian then to be in body and mind equal to the white man. I have
supposed the black man, in his present state, might not be so. But it would be
hazardous to affirm that, equally cultivated for a few generations, he would not
become so. 1
The concept of citizenship, which legally defines the relationship between the
state and the individual, has been the subject of a lot of struggles for rights and
freedom in the historical process. Civil rights embodying and institutionalizing
as an aftermath of the American Revolution (1765-1783) and the French
Revolution (1789-1799), were based upon not only the superiority of the state
that represented a notional hegemony, but also on concepts like freedom of
speech and right to participation of the citizen. This relationship which was
developed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining public safety has
glorified the principle of equality among citizens.
The Declaration of Independence (1776) addresses that all men are created equal,
and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and
to institute a new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
1 Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Marquis de Chastellux, June 7, 1785. Retrieved from,
National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-08-02-0145 . Date of
Access: 23rd April 20211.
2
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect
their Safety and Happiness. 2
In this context, it was opened to discussion whether the founding principles had
been implemented or not. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of the Founding
Fathers and authors of the Declaration of Independence, underlined the
importance of equality also in his first Inaugural Address in 1801, and the
address completely denied the potential domination of the majority or those who
had been in power over the minority. In contrast with these founding principles,
the White majority in the United States did not recognize the civil rights of the
African Americans.
During the contest of opinion through which we have past, the animation of
discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose
on strangers unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think;
but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to
the rules of the constitution all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will
of the law and unite in common efforts for the common good. All too will bear
in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases
to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess
their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be
oppression. 3
In fact, President Jefferson’s address reveals the great contradiction arising from
the distortion between actual practices and ideals in American history, also the
speech might give clues about what happened in case of abusing the founding
principles which directly indicates human equality. However, African
Americans, who have been one of the “others” in the United States, have barely
benefitted from the legal rights while their demands have been fallen on deaf ear
2 The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed by Second Continental Congress in
Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The Thirteen Colonies which struggled against the Great Britain
participated in Congress. In this respect, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had a pivotal role to
forge the United States of America. For detail, see The Library of Congress,
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/declarind.html . Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
3 For detail, see The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, https://jeffersonpapers.princeton.edu/selecteddocuments/
first-inaugural-address-0 . Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
3
by the government in general. Ultimately, both the United States and the world
witnessed one of the greatest acts of civil resistance in history.
This thesis primarily centers upon Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy with
regards to the American Civil Rights Movement. In this sense, the study grounds
on the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) as one of the watersheds of the
movement by the reason of being the first large scale maneuver which massified
the Civil Rights Movement. Thanks to this boycott, the American Civil Rights
Movement gained a social visibility, and it was realized that racism was a daily
problem of ordinary people. A tailor's protest sparked a national riot. Besides, the
boycott was also important that King’s leadership was tested for the first time in
the eyes of public. The study also argues that the American Civil Rights
Movement would not be carried out if King’s mode of action, which based upon
nonviolent and passive disobedience, was not implemented. This perspective has
also been widely discussed in other secondary sources. Different from those
point of views, this thesis will establish a link between King’s spiritual concerns,
episodic efforts, and the spirit of the era. Nevertheless, this thesis will argue the
topic by referring to two different newspapers, the Washington Star (Evening
Star),which possessed mainly a conservative perspective, and Arizona Sun,
which supported the African American community by the purpose of tendering a
different perspective. These sources may provide informative clues in terms of
the mentality, perception management, and social behaviors of Americans during
the indicated era. This viewpoint will make this thesis distinct from other
academic studies. Another goal of this study is to focus on the speeches, letters,
court cases, dockets, filings, and posters. The thesis attempts to avoid
concentrating on narrative history by asking questions about both the grounds
and outcomes of the Boycott that reflects how an ordinary person marginalized
by social and political mechanisms in recent American history has changed
history. and King’s legacy to promote an authentic approach to the delineation of
the “other” in recent United States history.
4
In the second chapter of the thesis, a brief historical background of the American
Civil Rights Movement will be provided by focusing on social, political, and
cultural aspects. By doing so, the study aims to reconsider and analyze the
underlying reasons and motives of the movement. Then, the chapter will
concentrate on the laws which protect and eliminate racism and social
polarization in the United States. Especially, the chapter will focus on Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka, 347 US 483 (1954) and Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The chapter will refer to The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and The National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) by the purpose of
revealing and analyzing the roles of Martin Luther King Jr. and
nongovernmental organizations on the Civil Rights Movement. In this chapter,
social and economic dynamics that triggered the movement will be analyzed by
benefitting from posters and photographs.
In the third chapter, King’s philosophy which was primarily based upon the
concepts of “The Beloved Community” and “Nonviolence” will be discussed by
benefitting from his own books. Josiah Royce, an American philosopher, who
had an intellectual influence on Martin Luther King Jr. and coined the term
“Beloved Community” will be briefly analyzed in this chapter. Hence the origin
of the “beloved community” and six steps of nonviolence will be examined.
Herein, an analytical overview will be brought forth to comprehend King’s
struggle for racial equality and justice. On the other hand, in this chapter, the
concept of social change triggered by King’s approach of nonviolence will be
scrutinized to form an opinion about the United States in that period.
In the fourth chapter of the thesis, the Montgomery Bus Boycott will be
discussed in detail by touching upon Martin Luther King Jr.’s role and other
prominent figures like Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks who paved a way for
civil disobedience. At this juncture, this chapter will reconsider why the
Montgomery Bus Boycott was a turning point within the scope of the Civil
Rights Movement. Besides, King’s way and the course of the Boycott will be
5
embraced by ascribing to the founding principles and American ideals.
Additionally, whether the Montgomery Bus Boycott brought about social
polarization will be questioned. A series of speeches, letters, court records, and
newspaper clippings from the Evening Star (Washington Star) and Arizona Sun
will be utilized in order to deliver a comparative and analytical perspective about
the Boycott.
1.1. Literature Review
Numerous secondary and primary sources such as books, articles, dissertations,
theses, court cases, dockets, letters, speeches, and newspapers are scrutinized
within the scope of this thesis. In the second chapter, which concentrates on the
historical background of the American Civil Rights Movement and King’s
leadership, The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People by
Alan Brinkley, The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea Shaped a
Nation by Jim Cullen, The Fifties by David Halberstam, Grand Expectations:
The United States, 1945-1974 by James Paterson, If White Kids Dies by Dick. J.
Reavis, Cities and Race by David Wilson, A Companion to American Cultural
History by Karen Halttunen, The Culture War in the Civil Rights Movement by
Joe Street, Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement by Yohuru Williams,
Brown, Racial Change, and the Civil Rights Movement by Michael J. Klarman,
The Black Revolution in Cultural Perspective by Eric J. Lincoln will be
examined in terms of social, cultural, and political grounds and outcomes of the
Civil Rights Movement.
The thesis mainly concentrates on King’s philosophy and his principles, his own
books, and writings such as Stride Toward Freedom, Why We Can’t Wait, Letter
from Birmingham Jail and A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and
Other Preaching, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community will be
utilized for the purpose of reconsidering the soul and method of the struggle.
6
The study mainly concentrates on historical and socioeconomic presence of
Montgomery, Alabama and the Montgomery Bus Boycott in which King Jr. and
Rosa Parks had pivotal roles, Joyce Ann Hanson ‘s Rosa Parks: A Biography,
Marry Hull’s Rose Parks Civil Rights Leader, David Harvey’s Social Justice and
the City, Coleman Hutchison ‘s Apples and Ashes: Literature, Nationalism, and
the Confederate States of America, David Meyer and Nancy Whittier ‘s Social
Movements Identity, Culture, and the State, Richard Sennett’s The Fall of Public
Man: The Forces Eroding Public Life and Burdening the Modern Psyche with
Roles It Cannot Perform, Alabama: The History of a Deep South Statethe
Montgomery Bus Boycott of Katie Marsico, The Thunder of Angels by Donnie
Williams and Wayne Greenhaw, Newspaper Wars of Sid Bedingfield, The
Montgomery Bus Boycott: A History Perspectives Book by Martin Git lin,
Daughter of the Boycott: Carrying On a Montgomery Family's Civil Rights
Legacy by Karen Gray Houston, “Martin Luther King's Constitution: A Legal
History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott” by Randal Kennedy, “Reexamining
the Montgomery Bus Boycott: Toward an Empathetic Pedagogy of the Civil
Rights Movement” by Derek H. Alderman, “The Origins of the Montgomery
Bus Boycott” by David Garrow, “The Social-Psychological Origins of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott: Social Interaction and Humiliation in the Emergence
of Social Movements” of Doron Shultziner will be analyzed comparatively in
detail.
In all chapters, various primary sources such as newspapers, court records,
memoirs, letters, and speeches will also be utilized. On the other side, Stanford
University the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute,
National Archive, Library of Congress (Chronicling America), Eisenhower
Presidential Library, Civil Rights Digital Library, SJSU Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Library, and some digital university collections such as Southern Indiana,
Harvard and Yale University’s digital archives will be examined to reach some
primary sources. Along with primary sources, the books and articles will provide
comprehensive and analytical evaluations about the American Civil Rights
Movement – especially the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Martin Luther King
7
Jr., and African American people who have fought for equality and justice for
years.
The Council of Higher Education Thesis Center of Turkey does not include any
study which focuses on the Boycott and King Jr.’s legacy by referring to both
secondary and primary sources. However, Mutlu Çalışkan’s unpublished thesis;
“An Analysis of African American intellectuals, 1900-1972,” mainly examines
the relationship between civil disobedience and democracy by addressing King.
Besides, “Civil disobedience and the formation of democracy in creating public
consciousness”, written by İntaç Şenaydın at Istanbul University, examines civil
disobedience in a philosophical context by also referring to King. In these
academic studies, not only King but also the Boycott are focal points.
Additionally, the doctoral dissertation titled “The Fire This Time: Media, Myth,
Memory, and the Black Power Movement”, written out by Conall McMichael
from Queen's University Belfast, centers upon the African American struggle by
referring to media narratives, and mentions about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
United States M.A. Thesis Database provides a variety of academic studies
referring to the Boycott and King. For instance, “Unknown martyr: the murder of
Willie Edwards, Jr., and civil rights violence in Montgomery, Alabama”, by
Paige Eugenia Young from University of Georgia, primarily focuses on the
murder within the scope of the Boycott. “Successful Communication in a Social
Movement: A Case Study of the Montgomery Bus Boycott”, written by Felicia
McGhee-Hilt from University of Tennessee, centers upon the Boycott by
benefitting from the media coverage and approaches to the topic by examining
social dynamics.
Different from previous studies, this thesis will reconsider King’s legacy which
was based upon three main pillars: The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Beloved
Community, and the Nonviolent Resistance. It will also mainly utilize the two
newspapers, which had political affiliations in addition to numerous court
records and letters. Therefore, this study will give priority to the Montgomery
Bus Boycott in order to delineate how King’s leadership gained strength within
8
the scope of the Civil Rights Movement. This study also aims to indicate that the
primary sources, including court cases, dockets, filings, letters, and newspapers
are beneficial to comprehending the mentality and perception of American
society and African Americans towards the Boycott. This approach might lead to
a comparative analysis to King Jr.’s legacy and make a way in order to grasp
African Americans’ struggle in recent United States history.
9
CHAPTER II
AWAKENING
The Civil Rights Movement, which occupies a substantial place in recent
American history, has changed the face of society in terms of social, cultural,
and political aspects. The impact of the movement during the Cold War is
significant since the struggle for equality and justice became a massive conflict
zone in the United States. The social and cultural transformation witnessed by
the United States between the years of 1948 and 1968 undoubtedly symbolized
rebirth for African Americans. The decree, signed by the thirty-third President
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) in 1948, aimed at eliminating segregation in the
military, and was a cornerstone for the Civil Rights Movement, albeit a deadly
one. In addition, Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), who was assassinated in
1968, became a prophetic vanguard for the Civil Rights Movement. Thanks to
his intellectual and political legacy, he became a pioneer in the struggle of
African Americans.
The American society began to witness both anxiety and comfort in the post-
World War II era.
America experienced a golden age in the 1950s and early 1960s, and it was
largely a result of two developments. One was a booming national prosperity,
which profoundly altered the social, economic, and even physical landscape of
the United States. The other was the continuing struggle against communism, a
struggle that created considerable anxiety but that also encouraged many
Americans to look even more approvingly at their own society. But if these
powerful forces created a widespread sense of national purpose and selfsatisfaction,
they also helped blind many Americans to serious problems
plaguing large groups of the population. 5
5 Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History off the American People (New York:
McGraw Hill, 2010), p. 726.
10
From this perspective, the priorities of the United States should be considered to
analyze the degree of change and transformation in society. After World War II,
increasing urbanization and the overpopulation of the middle class in the United
States directly triggered the Civil Rights Movement. According to Alan
Brinkley, much of the impetus for the civil rights movement came from the
leaders of urban black communities, ministers, educators, professionals, and
much of it came as well from students at black colleges and universities. 6 While
the African Americans' struggle for equality and justice focused on the ordinary
necessities of daily life such as profession, education and transportation, the
battle symbolized an issue for reestablishing the founding philosophy of the
United States. 7 Initially, the Civil Rights Movement focused on the political
rights of black southerners, and the violence in the streets was also used to justify
a “white backlash” against the civil rights claims of African Americans. 8
Afterwards, the movement began to be influential in cultural and social fields. In
fact, it would be an understatement to argue that the discrimination in the United
States during the Cold War was purely racial. During that period, one of the
consequential realities that motivated African Americans was gender
discrimination. However, varieties of marginalization and discrimination
magnified each other. By the late 1950s, about 75% of American women were
working at female-only jobs. 9 Even the data manifests that discrimination did
not target any group specifically, but the “others” of the society. African
6 Ibid., p.748.
7 American Founding Principles are essentially based on concepts like individual liberty,
federalism, limited government, representative government, private property, equality and
separation of powers. For detail, see J. Judd Owen, “The Struggle between "Religion and
Nonreligion": Jefferson, Backus, and the Dissonance of America’s Founding Principles,” The
American Political Science Review, Vol. 101, No. 3 (August 2007), 493-503.
8 David Farber and Benth Bailey, The Columbia Guide to America in the 1960s (New York:
Columbia University
Press, 2011), pp. 254,255.
9 James West Davidson, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection (After the Fact), 2nd ed.
(Alfred A Knopf, 1985), p.310.
11
American people were others in the eyes of the authorities, too… They were
deprived of equal citizenship rights.
In this respect, the Civil Rights Movement criticized social stratification and the
established order rather than segregation based on color, language or belief. In
the United States, which witnessed a patriarchal and authoritarian modernization
during the Cold War years, the scale and impact of the movement was puzzling
to estimate, but the consciousness of the leadership cadres dispelled the illusions.
Under the conditions of the Cold War, the struggle for equality, individual and
social rights and demands for liberty almost signified a demon according to the
American state and for the established order. Within this context, the uniqueness
of the struggle for rights and freedom in the United States can be observed. That
uniqueness has influenced and nurtured not only the internal dynamics of a
nation, but also its international position and stance. Thus, the Civil Rights
Movement attained a collective form, and massed forms of action led to the
emergence of powerful organizations. The Movement, which was a revolt
against the patriarchal and authoritarian order, also served as a litmus test in
recent American history. This test could answer whether the United States would
be surrendered by the Founding Principles or by threating and worrying breaking
points of Cold War. The core of the Declaration of Independence, which was
issued on July 4, 1776, was the idea that all men were created equal. However,
the segregation towards African Americans constituted an obvious violation of
the concept.
Despite being an alienated minority, Afro-Americans did not favor to use a hate
speech against White Americans, with whom they decided to share a homeland.
This attitude, which impeded the Civil Rights Movement from shifting into a de
facto and bloodier civil war, could well imply that African Americans dared to
eliminate the country from the hostile scene of the Cold War. On this occasion,
the Civil Rights Movement needed public propaganda strategies and mass
communication more than ever. In fact, the emancipation of African Americans
simply meant the emancipation of all Americans, as well as the disposal of Cold
12
War characteristics that threatened democracy, basic human rights, and the
individual's living space. During World War II, the official government agency
issued the following propaganda posters as figure 1 indicated. The poster was
depicted by Ukrainian American photographer Alexander Semeonovitch
Liberman in 1943. The motto “United We Win” probably symbolized a sort of
common ground and reconciliation between African Americans and White
Americans to cope with the conditions of the war. The poster was published by
The War Manpower Commission, which was a federal government agency, was
created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) during the World War II
to strategize for the work requirements of agriculture, manufacturers, and the
military services.10 In this sense, racial unity was imposed during the conflict in
order to secure the country's common interests and future. The poster depicted
White and African American laborers while they were working together to
promote the United States' goal for development, prosperity and victory during
the war. And again, both Whites and African Americans experienced a sense of
patriotism when they saw the American flag on the poster.
10 For detail, see The American Presidency Project on
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-9279-providing-for-the-mosteffective-
mobilization-and-utilization-the. Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
13
Figure 1. National Archives, United We Win, Photograph by Alexander
Liberman, 1943, Printed by the Government, Printing Office for the War
Manpower Commission, Records of the Office of Government Reports.
Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers-of-persuasion . Date
of Access: 23rd April 2021.
President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order outlawing segregation in
the army on July 26, 1948. According to Executive Order 9981, "all individuals
in the military would have fair treatment and opportunities without respect to
gender, color, religion, or ethnic background.11 According to the order, the
United States had handled racism from the perspectives of national security and
the economy under the atmosphere of the Cold War. Different political solutions
had been developed in the democratic system for various public areas. The order
could be seen as political hypocrisy in this context.
11 See Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948) on National Archive
https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=726. Date of Access:
1st August 2022.
14
The ongoing discrimination in the field of education created a quasi-caste system
in society. In the early 1950s, white schools received four and a half times as
much funding per pupil as did the black ones, and black school years were
shorter, teachers were paid less, and textbooks were dated discards from the
white schools. 12 The striking feature of the period was that the discrimination
faced by an African American when (s)he was born continued to grow in the
school, on bus seats and on the street. In that way, the internal dynamics and
politics were directly related to the foreign affairs to promote the country
towards the world. Robbie Lieberman and Clarence Lang cite that Americans
who worked for peace, as in peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union and
opposition to nuclear weapons, far-flung military bases, and imperialist wars,
were viewed as Communist agents or dupes, while at the same time the U.S.
government was forced to address the issue of civil rights in order to lend
legitimacy to its claims to be the leader of the “free” world. 13 On the other
hand, social polarization and discrimination widened the moral division of the
country and the struggle of African Americans, who had aimed to be eliminated
from social field just because of the implications of White Supremacy that had
sort of hegemony in almost all fields. Ill- educated and poorer African
Americans were not only targets of bankers, lawyers and businessmen in their
workplaces, but also suffered from widespread Negrophobia. 14 African
Americans, on the other hand, had fostered solidarity with their civilian White
allies in their struggle against segregation in public spaces. The following
photograph which was taken in mid-1960s in New York indicated that civil
rights activists who urged the adoption of anti-segregation laws in education
became a symbol of democratic engagement regardless of their ethnic
12 James Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1996), p. 387.
13 Robbie Lieberman and Clarence Lang, ed., Anticommunism and the African American
Freedom Movement (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011) p. 18.
14 James Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1996), p.397.
15
background. The incident illustrated that educational inequality was a significant
barrier to social integration. Furthermore, the participation of White Americans
brought attention as a factor that enhanced African Americans' legitimacy in the
eyes of the public. In this context, the joint struggle of African Americans and
White Americans proved that, despite all of the turmoil and tension, the Civil
Rights Movement generated a consolidation in American society.
Figure 2. Parents and students heading from Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's office in
Midtown to City Hall during a pro-integration boycott that kept over a third of
the city's roughly one million students out of school. Feb. 3, 1964. Accessed on
23rd April 2021 on https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/nyregion/schoolsegregation-
new-york.html .
In the face of state laws that incited racial discrimination and motivated a divided
and polarized society, being organized had been the only method of struggle for
African Americans.
16
2.1. Laws Protecting or Eliminating Racism and Social Polarization in the
United States
When Homer Plessy entered the white train compartment in New Orleans in
1892, he deliberately violated the Auto Act 15, which was also known as
Separate Car Act (1890) that mandated to maintain "equal but separate"
facilities for white and non-white passengers by law. Plessy claimed that the law
was unconstitutional by referring to the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution
that guaranteed equal citizenship rights. He petitioned to the Louisiana Supreme
Court and the United States Supreme Court after failing his court case in
Louisiana.16
15 The law forces all roads and railways functioning in the state to just provide "equal but
separate accommodations" for white and African American occupants, and it barred travelers
from entering lodging other than those allotted to them due to their race. For detail, see Louisiana
Separate Car Act, 1890 on http://projects.leadr.msu.edu/makingmodernus/exhibits/show/plessyv--
ferguson-1896/louisiana-separate-car-act--18. Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
16 For detail see Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) on https://www.archives.gov/milestonedocuments/
plessy-v-ferguson . Date of Access: 1st August 2022
17
Figure 3. Plessy vs. Ferguson, Judgement, Decided May 18, 1896; Records of
the Supreme Court of the United States; Record Group 267; Plessy v. Ferguson,
163, accessed on July 1, 2022 on https://www.archives.gov/milestonedocuments/
plessy-v-ferguson .
As the Figure 3 above document indicates the Supreme Court stated in this
conclusion that while the 14th Amendment secured equality under the law for
whites and blacks, it did not permit for the abolition of separate but equal
concept. Jim Crow Laws17 which were inherited from the nineteenth century to
twentieth century, and which transformed racial discrimination in the United
States into a system, had a profound impact on the daily life of African
Americans. In 1896, Jim Crow laws justified racism across the United States.
Because of the Jim Crow laws, African Americans were treated as second-class
17 Originally, Jim Crow was depicted as humiliated and despised by African Americans and
adapted by British comedian Thomas Rice. See What was Jim Crow? On
https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/what.htm . Date of Access. 1st August 2022.
18
citizens in terms of property right, education, employment, public services and
universal suffrage by law.
The following poster, which was illustrated by African American cartoonist and
writer Elton Fax (1909-1993) indicated a church session that was held during
WWII by The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP),18 which was one of the prominent groups in the civil rights movement
of African Americans. The poster displayed the influence of World War II's
political and social atmosphere on the American anti-racist campaign. Jim Crow
laws were delineated by a crow with Nazi and Japanese military and marine flags
on its claws, and a correlation was identified between the racial tones of those
laws and the political leanings of Germany’s Nazism and Japan’s aggressive
imperial expansion by delineating their national flags. The motto, which was
called “Come, let us take counsel together”, revealed the importance of
democratic participation which was given priority by the NAACP during the
struggle.
18 The NAACP was launched in 1909 to challenge systemic racism. The institution was active in
organizing the first national African American conference. During the Civil Rights Movement,
the NAACP hosted numerous meetings, particularly in opposition to economic, political, and
social inequalities. The NAACP will be discussed in the following chapter in terms of its role on
the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For detail and numerous primary sources of the NACCP see
Library of Congress on https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/naacp-a-century-in-the-fightfor-
freedom/ .
19
Figure 4. "Come, let us take counsel together" Attend NAACP Wartime
Conference for Total Peace, Chicago, July 12-16 / / E. Fax, '44. Accessed on
23rd April 2021 on https://www.loc.gov/item/2010648420/ .
Turning into a tool of social control and interaction based on racism, Jim Crow
had become the most important objection of African Americans who were
marginalized in the United States. On the other hand, the state-sponsored attempt
to pacify African Americans by the white majority was a herald of resistance.
Segregation laws were proposed as part of a deliberate effort to drive a wedge
between poor whites and African Americans. These discriminatory barriers were
designed to encourage lower-class whites to retain a sense of superiority over
blacks, making it far less likely that they would sustain interracial political
alliances aimed at toppling the white elite. The laws were, in effect, another
racial bribe. As William Julius Wilson has noted, “As long as poor whites
20
directed their hatred and frustration against the black competitor, the planters
were relieved of class hostility directed against them. 19
Jim Crow Laws constituted one of the biggest obstacles to the American people
to unite on common interests and consciousness and establish a free future. As
an outcome of these laws, contrary to the Founding Principles and the
Declaration of Independence of 1776 and more importantly the US Constitution
which had already given several rights to all citizens of the country, the social
structure of the United States became vulnerable to tensions based on
inequalities. In the book, called Jim Crow Laws (Landmarks of the American
Mosaic), it was pointed out that In Jim Crow America, any White family who
had sent their children to a "colored school" or any African American parent who
had sent their children to a "white school" were challenged a regular fine of
$20.20 It might be argued that not only African Americans but also Whites were
being intimidated by the purpose of hindering the reconciliation within the scope
of public arenas. African Americans and other minorities required separate
waiting rooms and ticket panes at railroad stations, and Jim Crow laws obligated
streetcar companies to assign separate seating areas for black riders.21 Moreover,
the laws prevented white female hospital staff from taking care of black male
patients. 22 The tension and social corruption were observed not only in the
streets, squares, buses and schools,squares and buses, but also in prisons where
human freedom was legitimately restricted. As African American activist and the
Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St.
Thomas, Yohuru Williams argued:
19 M. Alexander, The New Jim Crow (New York, The New Press, 2020), p.34.
20 Leslie Tischauser, “The Long, Slow Decline of Jim Crow, 1945–1954,” in Jim Crow Laws
(Westport: ABC-CLIO, 2012), p. 107.
21 Ibid., p. 107.
22 Ibid., pp.107-108.
21
The worst manifestations of Jim Crow Justice existed in prisons. Locked away
from the gaze of the media and polite society, prisoners endured serious abuses
far beyond the scope of humane punishment. African Americans, of course,
were aware of this brutal reality. While going to jail for violating unjust
segregation laws became a badge of honor for many Civil Rights activists, the
Black Power Movement’s reach behind prison walls gave voice to those often
forgotten by mainstream society, whether movement activists or American
prisoners. Laws that disproportionately penalized poor minority offenders led to
a burgeoning prison population. 23
According to this viewpoint, the authorities in the United States, who had been a
multi-ethnic and multi-cultural entity, abused the law to incite racial segregation.
The mindset, which jeopardized pluralism and attempted to build a homogenous
social system through legal regulations, displayed the legitimacy and nature of
African Americans' struggle for equality.
The following image dating back to 1940s, which was taken by Ukrainian
American photographer Jack Delano (1914-1997), depicted that there were
separate public transportation facilities which that were set up for African
Americans. The bus that ran by California Coach Company was in the pole
position for the passengers. However, the photograph would find out some
crucial rebounds of the society and the attitudes of African Americans. For
instance, the guy was looking at the advertisement, which expressed the
promotion of a new novel about Hawaii of American writer Faith Baldwin
(1893-1978). The advertisement was published by Cosmopolitan which was
monthly entertainment and fashion magazine that began publishing in the United
States for women as of 1886. The advertisement also included palm trees and the
ocean that were symbolizing the content of the novel and also a call for spare
time activities. Other magazine, called True Story promised “Hitler's Love Life
Revealed by His Former Maid”. Such a news could be credited to the American
public's interest in German chancellor Adolf Hitler's private life during the
Second World War. On the other hand, in the public sphere, Hitler's advertising
was rooted in racism, which frustrated African Americans as a natural outcome.
23 Yohuru Williams, Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement (New York, Routledge, 2016), p.
70.
22
The story might be related to Elisabeth Kalhammer, who was probably former
maid of Nazi leader.24 Another magazine which was called Good Housekeeping
that was monthly women's magazine that was founded in 1885 in Massachusetts
advertised “Bingo Tonite” game. It would give clues about the understanding of
entertainment of the era. The man was wearing the white suit, and it might be a
reflection of a strong outcry of African Americans against the policy of apartheid
that was based upon skin color. The phenomenon highlighted the severe
intolerance and provocation that African Americans were exposed in the public
realm. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the primary objective of the thesis, will be
scrutinized in the following chapter.
Figure 5. At the bus station in Durham, North Carolina. Delano, Jack. Created /
Published 1940 May. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017747598/ .
24 For detail, see Hitler’s former maid at his mountain retreat reveals all as she breaks her silence
after 71 years on https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614525/2pm-lie-ins-daily-Fuhrer-
Cake-Hitlers-former-maid-mountain-retreat-reveals-break-silence-71-years.html. Date of Access:
1st August 2022.
23
It can be argued that during the Cold War Era, when tensions and social ruptures
could not be understood as a petal or a thorn in terms of democratic regimes, the
political hegemony in the United States aspired to overshadow the existing
problems in many fields such as education, culture and economy through racist
practices.
According to the 1950 census, among Southerners in their late twenties, the
state-by-state percentages of functional illiterates (people with less than five
years of schooling) for whites on farms overlapped with those for blacks in the
cities. Most Southern whites were better off than Southern blacks, but they were
not affluent or well educated by any means; they were semiliterate (with less
than twelve years of schooling). Only a tiny minority of whites were affluent
and well educated. They stood far apart from the rest of the whites and virtually
all blacks. 25
Therefore, the struggle for freedom and equality, which was initiated by African
Americans, could also create a new agenda for other Americans by molding the
public opinion on schooling through economic and social climate.
2.1.1. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court declared its decision in the case of Brown
v. Board of Education of Topeka.26 In considering the legal segregation of a
Kansas public school system, the Court rejected its own 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson
decision,27 which had ruled that communities could provide African Americans
25 M. Alexander, The New Jim Crow (New York, The New Press, 2020), p. 243.
26 Linda Brown, 6, left her little house every morning for school and crossed a set of tracks in
Topeka's bustling railroad switching yards. She walked carefully between the rails, avoiding the
"enormous" trains that clanged noisily past her and waved at the railway employees. This
everyday route took her roughly six perilous blocks to her school bus stop. Her father, Oliver
Brown, attempted to enroll her in the Sumner School's third grade in September 1950, the
neighboring white school where she could walk on sidewalks along tree-lined streets only seven
blocks from her home. Because of her color, the principal of that school refused to admit her. See
27 “The ruling in this Supreme Court case upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for "equal
but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.” See
https://www.archives.gov/milestonedocuments/plessy-v-ferguson and see Richard J. Altenbaugh,
24
with separate facilities if the facilities were equal to those of whites. 28 The
following figure 5 pointed out the primary goal and the content of the decision.
The jury laid stress on that they asserted that the concept of "separate but equal"
seemed to have no position in public education. Separate public schools were, by
understanding of the term, disproportionate." As a result, they hold that the
petitioners and many others treated similarly to whom the acts had been brought
were rejected the equal protection of the laws provided by the Fourteenth
Amendment as a result of the claimed segregation. This decision excluded the
need to debate whether such segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment's
Constitutional Provision. Besides, the jury had proclaimed that certain
segregation was a violation of equal protection under the law. The tribunal's
reference to the 14th Amendment, which were supposed to guarantee individuals'
equal rights and molded states' mindsets toward citizens, could be regarded as a
legacy of the United States' founding principles on the Civil Rights movement.
"Liberation and Frustration: Fifty Years after Brown," History of Education Quarterly 44, no. 1
(2004), p. 1-9.
28 Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People (New York:
McGraw Hill, 2010), p.746.
25
Figure 6. Page 11 of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brown-v-board-1.html.
26
Figure 7. First page of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board
of Education of Topeka (Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, RG
267). Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brown-v-board-1.html .
In the sense of African Americans, the beginning of the social struggle and
transformation with a victory in the field of education was a watershed that
determined the way and method of the Civil Rights Movement. The decision
which was declared by the US Supreme Court revealed that the fight for equality
and justice could be won without violence because the victory was proclaimed
legally in the courtroom rather than in a square or street. That path would reveal
the validity and functionality of the concepts (which will be argued in the
following chapters in detail) of Martin Luther King Jr., who became the natural
27
leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, the court decision would turn
civil disobedience into a cornerstone of the struggle for equality and justice.
However, the actual implementation of the court decision paved the way for
some policies of obstruction and intimidation within society. Levi Pearson, an
African American farmer living in Summerton, South Carolina, and his family
were among the people who faced urgency before and after the Supreme Court
decision.
Pearson and many other black people, however, had exhausted their patience,
and they stood up to be counted as plaintiffs in suits that Marshall brought
against segregation in the schools. Five of these suits, including Pearson's,
reached the Supreme Court by 1953, challenging school policies in Virginia,
Delaware, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, and Kansas. The bestknown
plaintiff was the Reverend Oliver Brown, a welder in Topeka, Kansas,
whose eight-year-old daughter Linda had to go to a Negro school twenty-one
blocks away when there was a white school only seven blocks from her house.
His suit, joined by twelve other parents, was filed in 1951 as Brown v. the Board
of Education of Topeka. 29
This Supreme Court decision was overshadowed by Jim Crow laws for almost
10 years. In many schools across the United States, segregation was not dead in
the water. The report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Equal Educational
Opportunity was finally released on September 12, 1963. Following 15 months
of hearings, the report rejected most of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They wrote in the preface:
[T]here are no easy answers and no speedy solutions to these problems which
include de facto segregation in our schools; the present segregated housing
patterns of the community; the high incidence of low economic status among
minority people … and the lack of hope and motivation among some of these
families which leads them into negative attitudes toward education and the
demands the school makes on their children. 30
29 Ibid., p.483.
30 Peniel E. Joseph, Black Power Movement (London: Taylor and Francis, 2007), p. 44.
28
Nevertheless, it can be argued that Brown v. Board of Education is widely
regarded as one of the most significant decisions in US Supreme Court history.
Michael J. Klarman argues:
The events described below led to the mid-1960s civil rights legislation known
as Brown v. Board of Education. First, Brown crystallized southern opposition to
racial change, which had previously been dispersed and episodic since at least
the time of Truman's civil rights proposals. Second, the unification of southern
racial intransigence, which became known as "massive resistance," propelled
politics in practically every southern state several notches to the right on racial
issues; Brown temporarily destroyed southern racial moderation. Third, in such
an extremist political climate, men who were unwaveringly committed to
preserving the racial status quo were catapulted into public office. 31 On May 17,
1954, the State Journal, a local newspaper in Topeka that witnessed the events
surrounding the court decision in question, published a story titled "School
Segregation Banned" to its readers as the following figure indicated. The State
Journal had pursued an independent republican editorial policy that backed
President Roosevelt. In fact, one of the newspaper's prominent figures, Frank
Pitts MacLennan, had run for the presidency.32 It was worth noting that in the
news, Topeka Education Commission chairman Jacob Alan Dickinson claimed
that there was no de facto segregation and described the court's decision as
embodying the prestigious spirit of law and pure democracy. The court was very
prudent in having to decide the basic question and then encouraging all parties
more to discuss the disciplined and sensible implementation of the judgement,
chairman Dickinson told in the article. In this context, it could be contended that
the city's schooling bureaucracy enabled and encouraged the implementation of
the supreme court's decision.
31 Michael J. Klarman, "Brown, Racial Change, and the Civil Rights Movement," Virginia Law
Review 80, no. 1 (February 1994), p.79
32 For detail, see About The Topeka State Journal on
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016014/. Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
29
Figure 8. The Topeka State Journal reported the historic May 17, 1954, decision
that segregation in public schools must end. (Records of District Courts of the
United States, RG 21, NARA–Central Plains Region [Kansas City]). Accessed
on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brown-v-board-1.html.
Nonetheless, one of the most significant long-term benefits of this decision was
that it increased literacy and schooling rate rates, as well as civic awareness
among African Americans. As a result of the Supreme Court decision and the
subsequent gains in civil rights, in 1964, about 2% of African American children
attended the same schools as Whites, compared to 91 percent in 1973,
particularly in Southern states. 33
33 Ibid., p. 9-10.
30
2.2. No Alternative: The Turnover for a Better Future
By the 1950s, the population of African Americans in the United States reached
15 million, accounting for 11% of the total population. 34 Following the
Supreme Court's decision, which eliminated inequality, particularly in the field
of education, African American civil society activities gained momentum. There
were two prominent non-governmental organizations in this context. The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) have become the
headquarters of African Americans' struggle for equality and freedom regarding
social, cultural and political fields. In addition, these institutions reinforced civil
disobedience, one of the mottos of the civil rights movement, and common
concerns among African Americans. Under the harsh conditions of the Cold
War, the NAACP and SNCC's organization of civil disobedience and peaceful
actions would lead to a soft revolution. The NAACP, which led the mass
protests, had nearly 500,000 members.35 It may also be argued that as a result of
heavy mobilization, patriotic ideas were expanded by means of group
consciousness during that period, and a nostalgia for old values arose. the
NAACP's challenge was to assemble a patriotic movement rooted in common
democratic values. The organization attempted to reconcile the pluralistic
principles and discourse of the Declaration of Independence and the United
States Constitution with traditional patriotism. To claim back her promise of
freedom, justice, and democracy, America had to rid herself of the stain of
racism.36 From this perspective, as a multi-ethnic organization, the NAACP
endorsed a campaign of common values-based patriotism over race and color
nationalism. Thus, the NAACP aimed to keep African Americans from being
34 James Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1996), p.151.
35 Ibid., p.20
36 Manfred Berg, The Ticket to Freedom: The NAACP and the Struggle for Black Political
Integration (Univ Pr. of Florida, 2007), 26.
31
radicalized and militant, while also ensuring its legitimacy through legal
struggle.
The NAACP was not overly concerned about the rebirth of black nationalism in
the early 1960s, instead focused its efforts on the legislative attack against
segregation. Since the NAACP did not want rising nationalism to overwhelm
civil disobedience and nonviolent protest, the government and some white
Americans mostly avoided demonizing and marginalizing the Civil Rights
Movement. As a matter of fact, one of the underlying dynamics of the Civil
Rights Movement was the tremendous social, economic, and political
transformations that hit the country in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the
ensuing domestic migration. The situation marked a new front in the conflict,
notably for African Americans who belonged to low-income group and dwelling
in cities in which white Americans were the majority. According to Karl W.
Deutsch, who was a social and political scientist, social mobilization is the
practice whereby significant formations of old social, financial, and emotional
pledges were also undermined or ruptured by allowing individuals to be open to
new styles of socialization and attitudes.37 African Americans began migrating to
the northern states in the 1910s in pursuit of greater socioeconomic
opportunities. The migration persisted until the 1970s, when roughly six million
African Americans left the south.38 In 2010, Isabel Wilkerson, the first African
American Pulitzer Prize winner, compiled the book, called The Warmth of Other
Suns, which shed light on this great migration. Wilkerson depicted both social
and personal challenges of African Americans after immigration in the book by
relying on the memories of those who lived through the era. Wilkerson pointed
out that the totalitarian South could frighten most whites into lockstep solidarity,
but the cacophonous big cities of the North could not be controlled or
37 Karl W. Deutsch, “Social Mobilization and Political Development,” American Political
Science Review 55, no. 3 (1961): pp. 493-514, https://doi.org/10.2307/1952679, 464.
38 For detail, see The Great Migration (1910-1970) on https://www.archives.gov/research/africanamericans/
migrations/great-migration. Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
32
commanded into submission.39 Hence, African Americans had become
increasingly isolated within dominant White population as a minority and
alienated from their accustomed social atmosphere and economic conditions as a
result of massive urbanization and emigration. The massive urbanization resulted
in alteration of the features of African Americans, and their potential to stand
against the segregation boosted. Wilkerson underlined that the percentage of
blacks who had the favorable position of coming from the urban South who had
achieved high school graduation was higher than that of the whites they united.40
The relocation isolation culminated in a sense of balkanization by stressing or
eliminating gaps in economic opportunities and raising group identity among
African Americans. However, in this context, the stressing and elimination of
opportunities might be addressed within the city framework. The socioeconomic
context of the locale had impacted intergroup communication. First and
foremost, the question of why the city where African Americans' struggle gained
ground was gaining prominence. Robert Park41 and Ernest Burgess42 consider the
city as a human product regarding social integration and lifestyle’s
functionalization, and they have brought attention to a culturally generated type
of social solidarity in the city that they call moral order.43 Although educational
and professional variability had risen, it might be critical to assess their
vulnerability to expression of themselves and even survivability boundaries in a
spatial context. Wilkerson emphasized that those immigrants were more likely to
39 Isabel Wilkerson and Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of
America's Great Migration (London: Penguin Random House, 2020), p. 244.
40 Ibid., p.257.
41 Robert Park (1864- 1944), he was an American urban sociologist who was widely regarded as
one of the most influential figures in American sociology.
42 Ernest Burgess (1866-1966) was an American Canadian urban sociologist.
43 David Harvey, Social Justice and the City (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2009), 131.
Also see Robert Park, Ernest Burgess, and Roderick McKenzie, The City Suggestions for
Investigation of Human Behavior in the Urban Environment (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr,
1992), 50.
33
be hired, and since they were willing to commit to longer hours or second jobs,
they managed to earn more as a group than their northern counterparts, despite
being reassigned to the lowest-paying occupations.44. The stranger is associated
with the outsider and arises in a world where individuals are self-aware enough
to develop norms about who belongs and who does not, and these principles do
not apply to another type of stranger: the stranger as an unknown rather than an
alien. A stranger can be experienced on these grounds by someone who has rules
for his own identity.45
As Peniel E. Joseph underlines:
The portrayal of Black Power and political organizing in the urban North
squares with a turn in the social sciences toward a theory of urban crisis.
Numerous social scientists and historians have linked structural changes in the
economy, black Northern migration and urban segregation with a decline of
community institutions and the development of a pathological set of behaviors
among an isolated and poor black community. The urban black poor are often
portrayed as a socially disintegrated, postindustrial underclass too busy
surviving and too alienated from mainstream culture to theorize and mobilize
against their oppression. Rioting makes sense within this paradigm because it is
the spontaneous. 46
Wilkerson’s and Joseph’s characterizations of African Americans did not overlap
totally at this point. At the time, it was not possible to classify African
Americans into a fixed, distinctive cultural class. This disagreement could be
viewed as a reflection of the various socio – economic concerns that African
Americans faced having followed immigration. On the other hand, Joseph had
seen potential rebellion as a natural consequence of African Americans’
alienation from dominant Whites and their inability to benefit similarly from
wealth and resources. From this vantage point, it is difficult to argue that the
Civil Rights Movement was merely a field of alteration and battle for African
44 Isabel Wilkerson and Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of
America's Great Migration (London: Penguin Random House, 2020), p. 258.
45 Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man: The Forces Eroding Public Life and Burdening the
Modern Psyche with Roles It Cannot Perform (New York: Knopf, 1977), 48.
46 Joe Street, The Culture War in the Civil Rights Movement (University Press of Florida, 2017),
p.29.
34
Americans. What's more, the atmosphere of racial discrimination and social
injustice, which became more visible in cities than in rural areas, exacerbated
African Americans to develop a cognitive affinity for the Civil Rights
Movement. African Americans, whose daily lives had shifted dramatically as a
result of this phase, had also transformed from a rural society image to a more
urban and separated formation within the white majority as American legal
historian Michael J. Klarman mentioned: The new lifestyle, values and shifting
economic activities inspired the daily apprehensions of the vast majority of
African Americans, thereby bolstering the Civil Rights Movement. In postwar
America, Afro-Americans who appeared to have abandoned their traditional
occupations by migrating from the countryside to the city, where they became
isolated masses among the White majority. Michael J. Klarman noted:
During the middle decades of the twentieth century, the South ceased to be a
predominantly agricultural and rural society. In 1900, 65.8% of the southern
population engaged in agricultural pursuits, as compared with 28.7% of the nonsouthern
population. By 1930, the comparable figures were 42.5% in the South,
and 14.7% in the non-South; and in 1960, the numbers were 10.2% in the South,
and 5.4% in the non-South. In the eleven former Confederate states, the number
of farms declined from 2.4 million to 723,000 between 1940 and 1974; the
number of southern black farm operators decreased from 915,000 during the
1920s to 267,000 in 1959. Even in Mississippi, the least industrialized southern
state, the percentage of the workforce engaged in agriculture decreased from
58% in 1940 to 21% in 1960, and the number of black farmers fell from 159,500
in 1940 to fewer than 9,000 in 1980.47
The following two photographs of African American Peaceful protesters, who
were the supporters of Martin Luther King Jr, and mainly motivated by the
African American churches, who rallied outside the White House on March 12,
1965, and the campaign poster, headlined “One Man One Vote” illustrated that
the struggle for equality for African Americans was becoming increasingly
evident as a result of urbanization and long-termed struggle. The figure 7, which
47 David Hilliard, "The Transformation of South Australian Anglicanism, c. 1880–1930," Journal
of Religious History 14, no. 1 (June 1986), p.244.
35
was recorded by civil rights photographer Warren K. Leffler 48 for U.S. News &
World Report, depicted some noteworthy mottos such as “Negroes are
Americans, too, protect them, Stop Brutality in Alabama, The Right to Vote
Everywhere, We Demand the Right to Vote Everywhere. The slogans illustrated
African Americans' challenge for equal citizenship and universal suffrage, and
the social and political feature of the civil rights movement was embodied in this
way. The activists confronted direct intervention from government troops, as
depicted in the image. The figure 8, which was shot by Danny Lyon,49 might
give clues of social and individual realities of African Americans. For instance,
the person in the photograph, as implied by the clothes and shoes, was a member
of lower socioeconomic class and resided in a rural area. The piece that was
propagandized by SNCC depicted all Americans' equal right to vote, regardless
of their economic, social, or racial heritage. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 50
was ratified by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965. The bill handed
the federal government the power and funding to secure that all constitutional
citizens would vote in all states without impediments such as literacy tests,
thereby implementing the 15th Amendment to Constitution. The elimination of
inequality, which specifically targeted African Americans in terms of literacy,
might be interpreted as a result of the demographic changes, legal process, and
the guidance of the leadership which triggered political engagement and activism
that was spurred by non-governmental organizations such the NAACP and
48 In general, She frequently toured the Southern states to witness the civil rights movement,
though he spent most of his time in Washington, DC. Specifically, Leffler documented the
historic moments of the movement and its vanguards. For detail, see Warren K. Leffler on
https://art.state.gov/personnel/warren_leffler/. Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
49 Lyon has been among the most revolutionary documentary photojournalists of the late
twentieth century, and he later became engaged in the civil rights movement as a photographer
for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). For detail, see Portfolio: Danny
Lyon on https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/portfolios/port_lyon.html.
Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
50 See Voting Rights Act (1965) on https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rightsact.
36
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 51 which was a movement
created in the early 1960s by African American students to challenge racism in
the public arena.
Figure 9. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Leffler, Warren K., "[African
American demonstrators..." 12 March 1965. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-sourcesets/
right-to-vote-suffrage-women-african/african-american.
51 For detail see The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power/sncc. Date of Access: 1st
August 2022.
37
Figure 10. SNCC Poster, 1963.Photo by Danny Lyon. Civil Rights Movement
Archive. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on https://www.nps.gov/articles/civilrights-
movement-archive.htm.
Due to social organization and legal struggle, the Civil Rights Movement
resulted in a remarkable increase in political and democratic participation. The
number of African Americans participating in legitimate political arenas had also
rapidly increased across the country as Michael J. Klarman states:
In the mid-1940s, southern black voter registration risen dramatically as a
consequence of the Second World War. The number of registered black
southerners who signed up to vote climbed from about 3% in 1940 to 20% in
1952, and eventually to 29% in 1960. By 1948, blacks accounted for 40% of all
votes cast in Atlanta elections. Likewise, by the 1950s, black primary candidates
for public office, some of which were triumphant, had become an increasingly
prevalent phenomenon in the upper South, notably in several Virginia and North
Carolina counties. . 52
52 Michael J. Klarman, "Brown, Racial Change, and the Civil Rights Movement," Virginia Law
Review 80, no. 1 (February 1994), p.62, 63.
38
The Civil Rights Movement flourished, albeit under difficult conditions, by
obtaining strength from not only political concerns, but mostly because of the
implications of socioeconomic factors, technology, and mass media. The wider
availability of mass media such as radio, television, and newspapers in postwar
American society included African Americans in the fight both mentally and
virtually. The progression of socio-cultural life conditions, as well as a rise in the
number of attaining basic needs and access to entertainment, urged the Civil
Rights Movement to adopt a versatile and dynamic identity. As Searles and
Williams, Jr. highlight, the percentage of southern blacks who were employed at
higher levels increased from 7.3 percent in 1940 to 12.2 percent in
1950. Southern blacks' median income increased from $739 in 1949 to $1604 in
1962. 53 It became easier for African Americans to contribute to the challenge for
their civil rights, equality, and freedom as their economic freedom continued to
increase and they began to take advantage of the Golden Age.54 The economic
and social progress has compelled African Americans to take more daring steps
and appreciate democratic participation. As the below billboard illustrated that
while White Americans were benefitting from economic prosperity, African
Americans suffered from poverty due to a lack of fundamental human needs. In
the figure 9, the advertisement for the National Association of Manufacturers 55
above them, in complete contradiction to their depressing gestures, portrayed a
cheerful white family in a car, under the headline "World's Highest Standard of
53 R. Searles and J. A. Williams, "Negro College Students' Participation in Sit-Ins," Social Forces
40, no. 3 (March 1962, p. 215,216.
54 The 1950s to 1970s are often regarded to as the "Golden Age" of American capitalism. Real
per capita income expanded at a 2.25 percent annual rate during those years, and economic
growth was democratized as a large number of Americans joined the middle class. See European
Review of Economic History
Vol. 12, No. 2 (AUGUST 2008), pp. 221-241. (21 pages)
Published By: Oxford University Press
55 The National Manufacturers Association has been a business group based in Washington, D.C.,
with offices throughout the country. It has been the nation’s leading manufacturing trade body,
indicating 14,000 both small and large firms across all areas of the economy and states. For
detail, see National Association of Manufacturers Records, 1895-1990 on
https://invention.si.edu/national-association-manufacturers-records-1895-1990-bulk-1930-1976.
Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
39
Living” and the slogan of “There is no way like the American Way." It was a
powerful depiction of the social discrepancy between the propaganda machine
portrayal of American life and the economic troubles that were felt by poor
African Americans. The photograph was shot by Margaret Bourke-White, was
the first Fortune Magazine photographer and the first Western professional
photographer who was authorized into the Soviet Union. Bourke-Whitewas also
the first female war photographer, and she was accredited to work in war zones
during WWII. The photograph was printed in 1970 shortly before she passed
away.56
Figure 11. During the 1950's America came out of a victorious war and a
depression and entered the Golden Age. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1005spring2011/tag/golden-age/ .
The legitimate evolution of the Civil Rights Movement and the fulfillment of
African Americans' claims for equal citizenship were roughly related to white
Americans' standpoints. The support of the white American population was vital
for African Americans, who were a minority in terms of population ratio across
56 For detail, see Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) on
https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/womphotoj/bourkewhiteessay.html. Date of Access: 1st August
2022.
40
the United States, to prevent any possible perception operations under the Cold
War conditions, or at the very least to detach the label of “evil communists.”
Southern state education spending as a percentage of non-southern national
funding increased from 41.1 percent in 1929-1930 to 58.1 percent in 1949-1950
and 69.2 percent in 1968-1969, because higher levels of white education have
tended to correlate with greater racial tolerance, at least since the mid-century,
the increasing education of the southern white populace exactly worked ill for
Jim Crow's long-term survival. 57
The challenges experienced in implementing the Supreme Court decisions
throughout the country inspired the peaceful civil insurgents to take the
initiative. The civil rights upheaval, more than any other development of the
early 1960s, bolstered idealism, social equality, and awakening for fundamental
rights that has galvanized many other groups and sparked off rethinking about
social relations in the United States. In 1961, social change gained a new
impetus. The civil rights movement reached a bloodier phase, with racists
assaulting "freedom riders" who decided to seek to consolidate interstate travel:
twenty-six civil rights employees were gunned down in the South between 1961
and 1965.58 The following photograph which was shot in 1961 illustrated the
members of the “Washington Freedom Riders Committee” which were
constituted by young and old, black and white, men and women. In the spring
and summer of 1961, they risked their lives by riding buses through the
American South and North by the purpose of throwing down segregation in
interstate transportation.59 The slogan of “Enforce Constitution 13th , 14th and
57 Bernard Caffrey, Simms Anderson, and Janet Garrison, "Change in Racial Attitudes of White
Southerners after Exposure to the Atmosphere of a Southern University," Psychological Reports
25, no. 2 (October 1969), p.555.556.
58 James Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1996), p.443.
59 For detail, see Freedom riders : 1961 and the struggle for racial justice by Raymond Arsenault
on https://archive.org/details/freedomriders1960000arse . Accessed on 21st August 2022.
41
15th Amendments was indeed a summary of the demands of Civil Rights
Movement.60 At this point, the riders underlined the importance of abolishing of
slavery or involuntary servitude, the equality of all people who were born in the
US, and they underlined the voting rights by referring to those articles. Besides,
the slogan of “The Law of Land Is Our Demand” brought up the immune of
residence for all citizens. The members of the organization, on the other hand,
had remarkable smiling faces and optimistic gestures.
Figure 12. Members of the 'Washington Freedom Riders Committee,' en route to
Washington, D.C., hang signs from bus windows to protest segregation, New
York, 1961. Copyprint. New York World-Telegram and Sun Collection, Prints
and Photographs Division. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civilrights/exhibit.html .
60 For detail see The Constitution of the United States on https://www.archives.gov/foundingdocs/
constitution. Accessed on 1st August 2022.
42
During that time, the NAACP and SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership
Conference) 61 collaborated to uphold the dynamics of the Civil Rights
Movement in order to build up African Americans' cultural, traditional, and
social ties. Despite their efforts to characterize a secular image, the spiritual
realm of the Civil Rights Movement and the Christian agenda of equality,
justice, and peace were impetuses.
While the SCLC acknowledged that the mood of black Americans was
increasingly linked to cultural expression and the desire to legitimize an
independent African American culture, it could not conceive of this culture
without Christianity, which was the only culture able to protect the individual
and the collective from the physical and spiritual ravages of segregation and
white oppression. Where many Black Power advocates were arguing that
embracing secular black cultural forms and practices was the answer to the
psychological oppression imposed by white Americans, the SCLC maintained
that a firm commitment to Christianity was just as important. 62
61 Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), secularist American organization
headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, originally formed in 1957 by Reverend Martin Luther King,
Jr. and other civil rights activists to integrate and facilitate local organizations working for
African Americans' full equality in all aspects of American life. The organization mainly worked
in the South and border states, implementing leadership development programs, citizen education
projects, and voter registration drives. The SCLC was a major stakeholder in the 1963 civil rights
march in Washington, D.C., as well as notable antidiscrimination and voter-registration
campaigns in Albany, Georgia, and Birmingham and Selma, Alabama, in the early 1960s—
campaigns that enabled in the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965. See Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) on
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/southern-christian-leadership-conference-sclc.
Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
62 Joe Street, The Culture War in the Civil Rights Movement (University Press of Florida, 2007),
p. 108.
43
Figure 13. Martin Luther King, Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia, February 1968. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.194796.html.
The Organizations such as NAACP, and SCLC made African American
traditions, lifestyle, faith, and national memory clear and visible nationally. In
that way, the Civil Rights Movement increased its popularity and publicity.
Because of the situation, the movement managed to avoid being marginalized,
and confined to a small area, and it also built a kind of glass ceiling against racist
attacks on African Americans. At this point, it can be argued that the movement
fostered civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance by granting a nostalgic and
spiritual reminder for African Americans. Reportedly, the most notable
hindrance to the movement's marginalization was the NAACP itself, since the
pioneering organization has advocated for the integration of African Americans
into the white-dominated United States social and political structure while
achieving their demands for freedom and equality.
The executive director of the NAACP, Roy Wilkins, was labeled one of the
most powerful and dangerous Black men in America for his stewardship over
44
the group’s demands for full integration of Blacks into American society. By the
mid-1960s, however, Wilkins and the NAACP had become synonymous with
the “establishment” and “plantation politics.” With a tendency to micromanage
local branches and singular emphasis on the primacy of the Southern struggle,
the NAACP did not win many adherents among poor and lower-middleclass
African Americans. The organization’s conservative ideology and devotion to
maintaining white support further alienated it from a growing number of blacks
seeking alternative solutions.63
The Civil Rights Movement faced two major problems. The first primary
objective was to justify the struggle against the U.S. hegemony by avoiding
coercion; the second goal was to have a stable and reliable legitimacy in the eyes
of the disadvantaged and stigmatized African Americans. At this point, it became
completely obvious that African Americans had to mobilize. As the summer of
1963 came to an end, the United States hosted one of its monumental marches
and rallies in the history. Approximately 200,000 marchers from across the
country walked from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial steps,
where national leaders addressed the crowd, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
delivered the iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, in which he tried to persuade the
nation to fulfill the commitments of the Declaration of Independence.64 Again,
the following photograph was shot by Warren K. Leffler on 28th August of 1963
during the March on Washington. In general framework, African Americans
were attributing the demands of equal rights, integrated schools, better housing,
and the abolition of stereotyping. It was observed that women favored to wear in
white.
63 Peniel E. Joseph, Black Power Movement (London: Taylor and Francis, 2006), p.169.
64 Yohuru Williams, Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement (New York, Routledge, 2016), p.
38.
45
Figure 14. Civil rights march on Washington, D.C., 1963 Aug. 28. Accessed on
23rd April 2021 on https://www.loc.gov/item/2003654393/.
The March, which referred to the founding values of the United States, reiterated
the belief in equal living conditions for African Americans, and compelled
political leaders to take a concrete action. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a
Dream" speech was an invitation to challenge the status quo, and to attain equal
requirements in the common homeland for all Americans, not even just African
Americans.
46
Figure 15. Civil Rights Act of 1964. Accessed on 23rd April 2021 on
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a watershed moment in American history,
outlawing unequal treatment against at schools, public venues, and labor. The
racist stereotyping was deemed illegal by the law, which was signed by President
Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
which repealed the poll tax, crystallized the hard-won battles for racial equality
into law. All whilst, desire to create racial balance at schools displayed an early
commitment to put these changes into action through material legislative
mobilization. Government-schedule and affirmative action programs to assist
47
women and African Americans at the job market offered somewhat policy
solutions to centuries of political and economic inequality.
2.3. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of
Hope” 65
Martin Luther King Jr., the leader of the American Civil Rights Movement,
fought not only against racism and inequality, but against traditional methods of
resistance as well. His struggle and resistance program were an example of
peaceful disobedience, not violence. The endeavors of King Jr. were essential to
alleviate the tensions and concerns of a society that was living under the
conditions of the Cold War. King Jr., who was the representative of a social,
political and religious leadership, profoundly impacted the recent history of the
United States with his principles and political outlook. King Jr.'s total social
struggle under a peaceful atmosphere, was not just for the American society but
for the rest of the world, and it's one of the most important developments of the
20th century. Additionally, King. did not only put the African American struggle
on the political front. To him, the movement had social and economic pillars.
During that time, African Americans were facing discrimination and violence in
the social arena, and King 's encouragement to civil disobedience was one of the
key clues to comprehend the way and the spirit of the Movement. It could be
argued that the Movement, which promoted civil disobedience, would open a
door that would liberate not only African Americans, but also White Americans.
King, who did not hesitate to use his religious leadership in almost every phase
of social struggle, often preferred to use a spiritual and intangible rhetoric by the
purpose of orchestrating equality and justice. While the style and method of the
struggle aimed to build spiritual unity between White and African Americans, it
made political breaking points more sensitive.
65 On August 28, 1963, in Washington, DC, he delivered the "I Have a Dream" address. The
quote serves as the inspiration for the memorial's entire design, which incorporates the
metaphorical mountain and stone. Retrieved from
https://www.nps.gov/mlkm/learn/quotations.htm . Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
48
While King did not simply ignore the persistence of white racism, he did
encourage his congregation to avoid the urge to paint all whites with the same
brush: "The Negro who undergoes harsh and agonizing situations as a result of
some absolutely obscene white person is tempted to glance upon all white
persons as evil if he fails to look beyond his occasions." 66
The phrase might be evaluated that King 's religious rhetoric became a survival
priority in order to maintain a destiny and a common homeland between African
Americans and White Americans by keeping it on the agenda in order to
minimize social inequality, injustice and racism. It could also be contended that
King depended on religious values and established a tremendous social stigma to
avert African Americans from fostering hostility against White Americans. Such
a scenario can be regarded as a leadership effort to eradicate social racism and
prejudice in order to prevent potential grievances. The Civil Rights Movement
must be interpreted not only in terms of plot, but also of comprehension and
divinity, which was King's favorite approach of merging African Americans
while still not terrifying White Americans. By referring to Brown v. Board of
Education of 1954, King Jr. claimed that On May 17, 1954, God spoke through
the Supreme Court, and they evaluated the legal body of segregation and
declared it constitutionally dead, and things have been evolving ever since.67
According to King’s methods and concepts, the Civil Rights Movement was not
officially established on a secular understanding. Under the Cold War’s harsh
circumstances, King's path could be considered a keyway of curbing social
inequalities and racism by accomplishing a reasonable goal. The goal displayed a
portrait that did not ignore the fragile dynamics of American society and
prioritized spiritual unity.
66 Troy Jackson, Becoming King: Martin Luther King Jr. And the Making of a National Leader
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2011), p. 79.
67 The Sermon of Discerning the Signs of History on June 26, 1955 in Alabama. See The Martin
Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute on https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/kingpapers/
documents/discerning-signshistory#:~:
text=If%20we%20are%20to%20discern,seed%20of%20its%20own%20destruction.
Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
49
Figure 16. MLK to LKG, April 24, 1962. Retrieved from
https://etseq.law.harvard.edu/2013/01/852-rare-a-letter-from-martin-luther-kingjr/
dscf1359/ . Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
As the document indicated, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a letter to Lloyd K.
Garrison in April 1962, welcoming him to participate on the board of the Gandhi
Society for Human Rights. Garrison, the great-grandson of a–abolitionist and
journalist William Lloyd Garrison, decided to continue his family's political
activism for equal rights in favor of African Americans struggle to attain equal
citizenship rights. In the letter, King Jr. especially focused on public support,
segregation in education, universal suffrage and the continuation of nonviolence
resistance, and he heralded L. Garrison about the formation of a new civic
organization, which was called The Gandhi Society for Human Rights,68 aimed
to promote the rights and struggle of African Americans. As King Jr. mentioned
68 For detail see Gandhi Society for Human Rights on The Martin Luther King, Jr.Research and
Education Institute on https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-society-humanrights
. Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
50
in the letter, the organization was declared by Theodore W. Kheel, Harry H.
Wachtel and William Kunstler. Those three people were prominent arbitrators
and lawyers during the Civil Rights Movement, and they were not African
Americans. The letter was indeed significant because it illustrated the method
and content of the American Civil Rights Movement in terms of King Jr.’s way.
While gauging the cornerstones of African Americans' struggle for equal
citizenship in this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. also underscored his belief in the
massification of the struggle. The letter’s emphasis on universal suffrage should
be interpreted as a political message in order to maintain the existence of the
Movement. The Gandhi Society for Human Rights was officially established in
May 1962, less than a month after King's letter to Garrison. The initiative, which
refers to India's national hero Gandhi, hints at the movement's principle of civil
disobedience which gave priority to nonviolence, massification and legal
struggle. In his address to the formed prestigious board members, King
underlined the significance of 1962 as the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation and the death of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau's
philosophy of civil disobedience influenced Mahatma Gandhi, who in turn
affected Martin Luther King. Considering its content and the person to whom it
was written, the above letter reveals that the Civil Rights Movement aimed to
serve off the historical heritage of the United States. The letter, which addressed
a prominent member of an anti-slavery family, may indicate that King Jr. was
indeed attempting to build civil resistance by marking resilience from social
memory.
During the Cold War, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. positioned his fight against
racism, materialism, and militarism. At the time, King who created the antithesis
of the Cold War, attempted to persuade the American state and society to
embrace a joint peace.
He referred to militarism, materialism, and racism as the Giant Triplets: "giant"
because of their tremendous corrosive power; "triplets" because their "lives" are
so intrinsically tied that it is difficult to separate them. He was a critic of the
United States' growing militarism and urged the country to aggressively pursue
51
peace and put an end to war as a means of conflict resolution. He advocated for
economic justice and a guaranteed minimum living wage. 69
King Jr.'s anti-materialism was closely linked to his religious beliefs.
Simultaneously, his struggle for democratic values in a country entrenched in a
warfare positioned him as an opponent of militarism. His stance against racism
was largely determined by his implementations and conceptual struggle against
white American supremacy. King 's abstention of solutions within the dominant
system of state and society was one of his strengths and uniqueness. That’s why
in the 1950s, when the United States was implementing harsh war strategies
under the shadow of the Cold War and went about anti-authoritarian movements
as a real threat, King Jr. believed that equality could only be accomplished in a
peaceful atmosphere. The achievement of global equality and justice, according
to King, was a prerequisite for establishing domestic peace. The attitude of King
Jr. alarmed the state agencies, which utilized militarist policies and war
propaganda to preserve the survival of the order. As Jennifer J. Yanco stated in
her book:
Dr. King was convinced that if nations continued to engage in warlike behavior,
the fight for racial justice and economic equality would be futile. He was
chastised for speaking out against US militarism and the Vietnam War. The FBI
pursued him, the media chastised him, and he was threatened for "stepping out
of his place" as a civil rights leader. Ending war and violence between nations is
just as possible and urgent as ending poverty and racial injustice. He believed
that there could be no justice without peace, and that there could be no peace
without justice. 70
69 Jennifer J. Yanco, Misremembering Dr. King: Revisiting the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014), 20.
70 Ibid., p.22.
52
Figure 17. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at an antiwar demonstration in
New York in April 1967, with Dr. Benjamin Spock to his right. Credit...Agence
France-Presse. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/opinion/when-martin-luther-king-cameout-
against-vietnam.html. Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
The march, which was held in Chicago in 1967, in which King Jr. also
participated, was intended to denounce the Vietnam War. There are two
highlights in the photograph. First, King walks side by side with pediatrician
Benjamin Spock and senator Mark Hatfield. Benjamin McLane Spock was a
notable pediatrician and liberal activist in the United States. His books were
major hits. The virtual support that he extended to Martin Luther King might be
regarded as one of the elements of legitimacy in the struggle of African
Americans in the eyes of Whites. Spock also championed abortion rights by
participating in the 1972 presidential election.71 Mark Hatfield, a Republican
senator with a conservative political agenda, embodied the desire for peace and
cooperation that was delivered to the American people. This photograph
corresponds to King Jr.'s message of common homeland and common peace to
the American people. Anti-war activism did not only increase White Americans'
skepticism of the state's status quo, but it also opened new time and opportunity
for African Americans to fight alongside the whites. The second important
71 For detail see Benjamin Spock: Pediatrician and Anti-War Activist on National Library of
Medicine on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3076385/.
53
aspect is the banner which is held by the white American boy. The inscription on
the banner illustrates that, as King Jr. had also frequently stated, a peaceful and
egalitarian society embodies a future not only for African American children, but
also for white American children. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not address the
tense Cold War atmosphere by excluding the Civil Rights Movement. The areas
of international conflict, in his opinion, were the factors that nourished
significant areas of national conflict. The best way to end the war and violence
between nations was just as possible and imperative as eliminating poverty and
racial violence, King Jr. underlined.72 All such mindsets transformed King from
being a leader associated with the peace of the American citizens to an activist
concerned with international peace.
Figure 18. Communist training school. Retrieved from
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/communism. Date of Access: 23rd
April 2021.
72 Martin Luther King, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (Boston Beacon
Press, 1967), p. 195.
54
This image, which was captured by American photographer Bob Fitch, who
closely observed the Civil Rights Movement, reflected a manipulative attitude
toward a meeting held at the Highlander Folk School in which King Jr. attended.
An American Socialist Myles Horton founded the Highlander Folk School in
Monteagle, Tennessee, in 1932. Originally, the school concentrated on labor and
educational activities. Nevertheless, by the early 1950s, it had changed its
emphasis to race relations. 73 Martin Luther King celebrated the 25th anniversary
of Highlander Folk School with the staff and participants of a leadership training
conference on September 2, 1957. In his keynote speech, King hailed Highlander
for its honorable goal and creative endeavor, as well as its commitment to the
South, and Rosa Parks joined a Highlander workshop four months before
rejecting to give up her bus seat, igniting the Montgomery bus boycott.74 During
the press meeting in 1965, King was asked about his involvement with
Tennessee's Highlander Folk School, which was labeled as a "Communist
training school" on billboards that appeared throughout Alabama during the
Selma to Montgomery March and showed King attending a Highlander
workshop. King defended the school, claiming that it was not Communist, and
cited the support of "great Americans such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Reinhold
Niebuhr, Harry Golden, and many others."75 Because of those who were wellknown
figures in the general public and were honored by the American
presidency. King 's references to notable white Americans while expanding the
defense mechanism reveals how difficult it was for African Americans to gain
credibility. On the other hand, there’s a clear implication in the report which was
submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the FBI) in March of 1968,
and it was hidden from the public for many years that Martin Luther King Jr.
73 See Highlander Folk School on https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/highlander-folkschool.
Accessed on 1st August of 2022.
74 See Highlander Folk School on https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/highlander-folkschool.
Accessed on 1st August of 2022.
75 See Communism on Retrieved from
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/communism . Accessed on 1st August of 2022. .
55
was commonly connected with communism. On the page 5 of this report, it was
alleged that King was a fervent Marxist who had analyzed it, and appeared to
believe in it, and consented with it, but did not attempt to publicly endorse for it
because he was a minister of religion.76 The communist label and demonization
were attempted to minimize Dr. King 's objection to Vietnam War. Although
King often emphasized the antagonism between Christian values and
Communism, he suffered from black propaganda during his campaign Although
he rejected communism's central tenets, he was sympathetic to Karl Marx's
critique of capitalism, finding the "gulf between superfluous wealth and
extremely poor poverty " that existed in the United States morally wrong.77
However, instead of material concerns, King provided purpose and meaning
through a mystic cycle to the life, and he did not accept Communism's view of
general religious taboos because he saw the key principles of Christianity as the
inspiration for the Civil Rights Movement. King criticized America's "sick of
Communism” by arguing that it prevented Americans from adopting a
revolutionary spirit and everlasting opposition to poverty, racism, and
militarism.78 Besides, King criticized communism's morality, which enabled evil
and disastrous methods to serve a utopian goal.79 King Jr., on the other hand, was
opposed to the tactics that was implemented by the United States and the
Western World to defeat communism and urged for the ideals of Christianity to
be followed as an alternative. As he stated during the rally of United Church of
Christ Convention in Chicago in 1965:
76 See Federal Bureau of Investigation , Subject: Martin Luther King Jr. , A Current Analysis,
March 12, 1968. On https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10125-10133.pdf.
Date of Access: 22th July 2022.
77 Martin Luther and Clayborne Carson, Stride toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
(London: Souvenir Press, 2011), p. 94.
78 Martin Luther King, Where Do We Go from Here Chaos or Community? (Boston: Beacon
Press, 2010), p. 190.
79 Martin Luther King, Strength to Love (London u.a.: Collins, 1972), p.95.
56
American society and Western civilization were "lost" on the basic questions of
justice and morality that confronted the world. "There are few things more
thoroughly sinful than economic injustice. We are gravely mistaken to think that
religion protects us from the pain and agony of mortal existence. Life is not a
euphoria of unalloyed comfort and untroubled ease. Christianity has always
insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear. To be a Christian
one must take up his cross, with all its difficulties and agonizing and tensionpacked
content and carry it until those very cross leaves its mark upon us and
redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering ....
Will we continue to march to the drum beat of conformity and respectability, or
will we, listening to the beat of a more distant drum, move to its echoing
sounds? Will we march only to the music of time, or will we, risking criticism
and abuse, march only to the soul-saving music of eternity? 80
The predominance of religious rhetoric in King 's perspective of struggle had a
substantial impact on his perception on social issues and contradictory concepts.
The endorsement of spiritual integrity and stimuli in this context had vastly
prevented potential racism among African Americans against White America.
Accordingly, King 's approach to racial issues was chiefly social and economic
in essence. King's comprehension of ethnicity was related to a concept of social,
political, and economic power because the newly hegemonic ethnicity
paradigm's interpretation of race questioned the basis of the segregated South,
and King and the movement came to grasp the concept almost by definition.81 It
could be asserted that Martin Luther King’s s mystical and morally compelling
interpretation of tussle obligated him to encounter the American state's legitimate
apparatuses. In fact, Dr. King Jr.'s moderate stance on racial issues made him a
pleasant conversation partner in the eyes of the US government. This situation
can be regarded as one of the key factors shoring up the Civil Rights Movement's
hand.
80 David J Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (New York: Perennial, 2006), p. 532.
81 Fredrik Sunnemark, Ring out Freedom! The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. And the Making
of the Civil Rights Movement (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004), p.138.
57
Figure 19. Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. Retrieved from
https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHCNF/1478/JFKWHCNF-1478-
015?image_identifier=JFKWHCNF-1478-015-p0001. Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
58
Figure 20. Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers. Retrieved from:
https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHCNF/1478/JFKWHCNF-1478-
015?image_identifier=JFKWHCNF-1478-015-p0001 . Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
The above telegrams, which were sent in 1961 and 1962, were drawn up between
White House officials and Martin Luther King Jr. about some of the reported
incidents that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King Jr. called a
meeting with President John F. Kennedy and spoke about fundamental human
rights issues such as racist violence, the right to vote, and accommodation in
Southern states. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most iconic figures in the
struggle for civil rights and freedom without committing violence, and the
legitimacy of the Movement grew day by day as a result of his political
maneuverings as indicated in the content of the telegrams. As noted in the first
telegram, King emphasized President Kennedy's positive attitude toward the
59
Civil Rights Movement and promoted his ability to interfere in the event through
executive orders. King Jr. pointed out that President Kennedy had a great chance,
and he did believe in his dedication to the Civil Rights Movement. Besides, King
Jr. reiterated that members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
shared his views. The telegram was assigned to Attorney Frank D. Reeves, who
was special assistant to the President. According to the second telegraph,
religious leaders led by Martin Luther King asked to meet President Kennedy by
communicating through Harris Wofford and Kenneth O'Donnell to discuss civil
rights. Those were assistants of President Kennedy, and in the 1950s. Even,
Wofford was an ardent follower of the Civil Rights Movement in the South, and
he became a friend and unofficial senior advisor to Martin Luther King Jr.82
According to the telegram, a request had been submitted to discuss the issue of
race and civil rights, with reference to Martin Luther King Jr.to discuss civil
rights. Martin Luther King Jr. was known for his moderate manner, yet he
refused to negotiate African Americans' historical heritage and rebellious
identity. Avoiding engaging in violence, he tried to define a national identity that
reinforced both the United States and African Americans on their democratic
achievements. In 1963, King Jr. pinned down an open letter from Birmingham
Jail,83 and he noted that African Americans could have survived under severe
hardships in their 200-year heritage.
Abused and scorned though we may be our destiny is tied up with America’s
destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen
of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence
across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our
forebears labored in this country without wages; they made the cotton king; they
built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful
humiliation—and yet out of bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and
develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the
opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the
82 Jason Zengerle, “The Man Who Was Everywhere,” The New Republic, November 21, 2014 on
https://newrepublic.com/article/120160/harris-wofford-20th-centurys-most-serendipitous-man.
Date of Access: 1st August 2022.
83 The Letter will be discussed in Chapter IV in detail.
60
sacred history of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our
echoing demands. 84
During the John F. Kennedy era, Martin Luther King Jr. deliberately and
painstakingly utilized political communication channels, although he preferred to
remain nonpartisan or for the White Americans' campaign for political
hegemony before the Presidential elections. The following telegram from the
year was crucial, because it indicated King's neutrality towards daily politics of
the US. On November 7, 1960, King Jr. issued the telegraph by denying any
public rumors of sympathy for Kennedy's campaign.
Figure 21. Telegram sent by Martin Luther King Jr. when asked to endorse John
F. Kennedy or Richard M. Nixon in the presidential election, 1960. Retrieved
from https://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/california-digital-archives/toward-thefulfillment-
of-the-dream. Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
Nonetheless, President Kennedy's democratic stances gave Martin Luther King
enthusiasm for the Civil Rights Movement's survival. When King Jr. heard about
President Kennedy's assassination, he delivered a dramatic speech regarding the
future of the civil rights movement. His wife was the only one who could
witness.
84Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (London: Penguin Books, 2018), 148.
61
He called downstairs to his wife, who was on the phone. "Corrie, I just heard
that Kennedy has been shot, maybe killed." She joined him in front of the TV,
and together they awaited more news. "While we were waiting and sitting,”
Coretta later recalled, Martin said, "Oh, I hope that he will live, this is just
terrible. I think if he lives, if he pulls through this, it will help him to understand
better what we go through." Then came the news that Kennedy was dead. King
was quiet for a few moments, Coretta remembered, "but finally he said, 'This is
what is going to happen to me. This is such a sick society. 85
This speech, which included prejudice against the United States' privileged white
hegemony by articulating the phrase “such a sick society”, also marked the
emotional approach on Kennedy. Dr. King aimed to inspire spiritual hope among
his followers at such times of social upheaval. He asserted that they had the
chance to transform the country and lead it to a stage where it would embrace
their ideas. Jean M. White of the Washington Post, who was one of the first
women to join the national office in the 1960s, and she published numerous on
civil rights. While she was covering school desegregation in New Orleans in
1960, she was assaulted with eggs, was bewildered at King's contemplation in
1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, remarking that "Dr. King's comments had almost
a melancholic tone to them," she reported, "a kind of nostalgia for the past." 86
By elucidating the struggle of African Americans against the legitimate
apparatus of dominant white power over the last decade, Martin Luther King Jr.
was attempting to underline a perseverance and conveying self-criticism. He
declared that genocide had been committed against the black people, it was not a
physical genocide, but psychological and spiritual genocide that they had not
evaluated the depth of resistance in the white community to true equality.87 For
decades, ongoing segregation in public areas such as public transportation and
education had been characterized as psychological genocide gadgets in King Jr.'s
gaze. Probably that the past was referenced to the anti-slavery campaign in the
19th century.
85 David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (New York: Perennial, 2006), p. 307.
86 Ibid., p.598.
87 Ibid., p.598
62
Figure 22. On October 27, 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a group
of students, faculty, and members of the community at the McMillin Theatre
(now Miller Theatre) at the invitation of The Columbia Owl, a then-weekly
publication of the School of General Studies. Retrieved from
https://afamstudies.columbia.edu/news/remembering-martin-luther-kingsspeech-
columbia. Date of Access: 23rd April 2021.
The newspaper report indicates that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was with a group
of students, staff, and community members at the McMillin Theatre on October
27, 1961. According to a statement at the Columbia Daily Spectator, which was
issued weekly by Columbia University, and championed Republican Party
policies in general, King delivered brilliantly about two Southern Christian
Leadership Conference campaigns, of which he was president. The first was a
voter registration campaign in Mississippi, where black voters had been denied
access to the ballot box for more than a century. The other was an attempt to
urge US President John F. Kennedy issue an executive order outlawing racism in
federal agencies and other sectors of American public life. There were political
solutions to eliminate the ongoing racial attitude toward African Americans, but
Dr. King tried to establish a transcendental unity by providing social
consolidation. The American Civil War did not restore race relations absolutely,
but it did shift oppression to segregation laws; the Civil Rights Movement
63
accomplished in abolishing these laws, but it cost a "tragic hero" in the manner
of Martin Luther King, Jr., and he intended altering "people’s souls." 88 In this
sense, Dr. King had to use a moderate approach throughout his campaign.
Figure 23. Marchers with signs at the March on Washington, 1963, Retrieved
from: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.37229/ . Date of Access: 23rd April
2021.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared his vision of a future that was based upon
equality and justice for all Americans, not only African Americans, during the
March on Washington on August 28, 1963. In his speech, Dr. King referred to
the founding fathers to recall Americans about their history and to highlight the
legitimacy of African Americans' campaign for social justice and equality. As
Figure 21 depicted the March on Washington was a massive rally that declared
equal voting rights to boost democratic participation of African Americans, and
demonstrators were complained about police brutality. The photograph was
recorded by Marion S. Trikosko, who was an American photojournalist who
acted for The New York Times and U.S. News & World Report during the
Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. His photographs of civil rights
88 Russell P. Johnson, “Introducing Prophetic Pragmatism: A Dialogue on Hope, the Philosophy
of Race, and the Spiritual Blues,” American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 42, no. 3
(September 1, 2021), p.25.
64
leaders and panoramic shots of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom were well-known.89 As could be observed in the photograph, white
Americans also participated in the march to promote peace and equality by
demanding voting rights, ending police brutality and job opportunities as the
banners indicated. Besides, the march also included people of various ages and
races. This picture displays King Jr.'s and the movement's burgeoning credibility
in the eyes of the general public. As a result, the urgency of the common future
to be built in the common country was addressed.
The Lincoln Memorial was frequently displayed in that video capture. It showed
that when Martin Luther King Jr. said that he had a dream, "yes" noises were
heard. The episode in which King Jr. mentioned about self-confidence and his
own children drew a great deal of cheers from the crowd. Furthermore, children
could be observed among the attendees. King Jr., on the other hand, referenced
black men, white men, Jews, Gentiles, Protestants, and Catholics at the
conclusion of his speech, highlighting a country where differences are allowed to
flourish.91
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against racial stereotypes and
socioeconomic limitations to equality and social justice in this speech. He
depicted a democratic homeland to be established with White Americans, while
underscoring the oppression faced by African Americans in their daily life. The
address was critical to enhance collective consciousness on Dr. King's nonviolent
struggle and civil resistance.
89 For detail, see Marion Trikosko on https://art.state.gov/personnel/marion_trikosko/. Date of
Access: 1st August 2022.
91 See “Watch Martin Luther King's iconic 'I Have A Dream' speech” on
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-videowashington-
dc-lincoln-memorial-civil-rights-movement-a8286926.html. Date of Access: 1st
August 2022.
65
CHAPTER III
TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: THE BELOVED COMMUNITY
AND NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE
Undoubtedly, the analyzing social, economic, and political implications of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott and its behavioral effects on both African Americans
and Whites requires evaluating Martin Luther King Jr.'s intellectual perspective.
As covered in the previous chapters, Dr. King, who was the first spiritual leader
of African Americans during the Cold War, had to deal with legal frustrations
that were implemented by the authorities. Nevertheless, a key sociopsychological
barrier to potential civil rights campaigns was the fear and tension
that the Cold War political ideology in American society generated. At this point,
one could argue that under the gloomy conditions of the time, Dr. King's path of
civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance was the only viable option for any
accomplishment. Since the boycotters could only gain equal rights by
maintaining peaceful coexistence with whites. The concern virtually eliminated
the option of violent rebellion in terms of African Americans. In this chapter,
Martin Luther King's pieces, called A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to
Love and Other Preachings, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Stride toward
freedom; the Montgomery story,92 will be analyzed, and the concepts of beloved
community and nonviolent resistance will be attempted to grasp, as they
profoundly influenced the path and action plan of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
92 Those three publications feature Martin Luther King Jr.’s memories and recollections of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, as well as significant materials for analyzing the concepts of
Nonviolent Resistance and Beloved Community.
66
The concept of beloved community, which was coined by American philosopher
Josiah Royce (1855-1916),93 conveyed the ideal social order in which inequality
and hostility were annihilated. Royce's interpretation of the ideal civil society
was molded by the basic tenets and principles of Christianity. On the other hand,
some of Royce's disclosures were seemed to be directly or indirectly racist and
standardizing of the community. He alleged that “Negroes” were behind the
times due to their intrinsic mental capabilities. 94 Again, he voiced an objection
on the total engagement of African Americans to public services which were
administered by White.95 At this point, one could argue that, while Royce's ideal
American society inspired White supremacy that tolerated African Americans as
second-class collaborators who must be tamed in order to establish order. Royce
discussed social integration, conflict, and coexistence based on geographical and
religious spurs in his work Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American
Problems, which was published in 1908. While Royce emphasized non-violence
and social cohesion, he argued that Whites should have conveyed their
superiority not through discourse but through their executive positions in public
service, he pointed out:
For the Englishman, in his official and governmental dealings with backward peoples,
has a great way of being superior without very often publicly saying that he is superior.
You well know that in dealing, as an individual, with other individuals, trouble is
seldom made by the fact that you are the superior of another man in any respect. The
trouble comes when you tell the other man, too stridently that you are his superior. Be
my superior, quietly, simply showing your superiority in your deeds, and very likely I
shall love you for the very fact of your superiority. For we all love our leaders. But tell
me that I am your inferior, and then perhaps I may grow boyish, and may throw stones.
Well, it is so with races. Grant then that yours is the superior race. Then you can afford
93 Josiah Royce (1855–1916) had studied on ethics, social philosophy, and religion. He was
regarded as one of the most important philosophers in American history. For detail see the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/royce/ . Date of
Access: 11th August 2022.
94 Josiah Royce, Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American Problems (Bibliolife,
2011), 51.
95 Ibid., 274.
67
to say little about that subject in your public dealings with the backward race.
Superiority is best shown by good deeds and by few boasts. 96
In some ways, the approach, which captured the traditional colonial perception,
intended to generate a peaceful order through consent of the minority group and
by adapting so-called racial superiority to social life. In this sense, ethnic
equality and fundamental citizenship rights were underestimated. Royce had
defined the term of the beloved community in his piece, called The Problem of
Christianity, which was composed of a series of seminars he handed out in 1913
at Manchester College in Oxford. The piece displayed his intellectual analysis of
Christianity's core concepts of society, sin, forgiveness, and saving mercy by
illustrating their relevance to combination of world religions, and outposted his
stance on a self-discovery into authentic devotion toward the society of the entire
human family. In the following quotation, Royce highlighted the moral
preaching of Jesus of Nazareth by referring to the Bible, and he regarded a
flawlessly lived harmony of people who decided to join in a spiritual choir to
establish a celestial society. Royce preferred to characterize the creditable social
order with ideal behavior patterns utilizing historical myths and the spirituality of
Christianity in the community, as he unfolded:
All morality, namely, is, from this point of view, to be judged by the standards of the
Beloved Community, of the deal Kingdom of Heaven. Concretely stated, this means that
you are to test every course of action nor by the question: What can we find in the
parables or in the Sermon on the Mount. The central doctrine of the Master was: "So act
so that the Kingdom of Heaven may come.'" this means: So act as to help, however you
can, and whenever you can, towards making mankind one loving brotherhood, whose
love is not a mere affection for morally detached individuals, but a love of the unity of
its own life upon its own divine level, and a love of individuals in so far as they can be
raised to communion with this spiritual community itself. 97
As previously stated, the term "Beloved Community" was coined by Josiah
Royce, but the concept was popularized by Rev. King. Nonviolent resistance and
the existence of social tranquility were the two main pillars of his struggle
96 Ibid., p.275
97 Josiah Royce, The Problem of Christianity Lectures Delivered at the Lowell Institute in
Boston, and at Manchester College, Oxford (New York: Macmillan, 1914), 356, 357.
68
agenda. However, the narrow options of African Americans, who were treated as
second-class inhabitants by the authorities, pinned down a long-term mode of
struggle. The only way to eliminate the potential risks of a long-term action
agenda, such as civil war, was to insist on peaceful solutions and ways. At this
point, Martin Luther King Jr. was inspired by both Royce and Mahatma Gandhi,
India's national hero.98 Royce had already been accused of being racist, but he
had an impact on King Jr., and the case could cover an explicit and intricate
relationship, in addition to being exceptionally questionable. Considering King
Jr.'s religious and spiritual sensibilities, his conceptual relationship with Royce
could be grasped in some ways. Royce's rhetoric that encouraged White
supremacy and encompassed racist approaches, on the other hand, calls into
question to King Jr., who pioneered the greatest anti-racism movement of the
twentieth century. Remarkably, Martin Luther King Jr. had never mentioned
Josiah Royce's name in his literary works. It might be said that Dr. King did not
endorse Royce's notion as content; somewhat more, he embraced it
etymologically and put it into action. In this context, it might be worthy to note
that Martin Luther King Jr. received his PhD in theology at Boston University,
and the concept of “Beloved Community” was extensively covered in the
curriculum of the department, in which 146 dissertations and thesis that referred
to Josiah Royce directly or indirectly were written up until 1964.99
For African Americans, the concept of the Beloved Community legitimized their
challenge as a highly pragmatic and functional concept. Because the civil rights
movement, particularly the Montgomery Bus Boycott, compelled social peaceful
coexistence and the role of culture of living together as the struggle of the
98 Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial patriot, and political theorist who had
favored nonviolent resistance to launch India's historic movement for independence from British
rule and later triggered movements for civil equality and liberties around the world. For detail see
the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on The Library of Congress on
https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2019/09/the-150th-birth-anniversary-of-mahatmagandhi-
1869-1948/ . Date of Access: 11th August 2022.
99 See Dissertations and Theses (pre-1964) on https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/3722 . Date of
Access: 11th August 2022.
69
minority within the qualified majority. Martin Luther King Jr. favored to capture
the essence of the beloved community in dissent to racism, materialism and
militarism, three significant polarization areas over the years. Racism, according
to King, was an outrageous doctrine that bestowed historical enlightenment and
progress on a single society, and it could even promote murder by increasing
social alienation. 100 Despite having lived in the same country, African
Americans and Whites mirrored an alarming level of social alienation. The racial
segregation on the public transportation was a physical manifestation of social
alienation, but there was no consent on how to build a shared future between
African Americans and Whites. Thus, in the eyes of King Jr., the Beloved
Community embodied the ideal of establishing a common American destiny by
eliminating social alienation. Dr. King Jr. endorsed for nonviolent conflict
resolution in the struggle against racism by reiterating that such conflict
resolution could be vital on the path from conflict to peace.101 It was clear that
religious discourse played a key role in Martin Luther King's challenge against
racism. When he was jailed in 1962, Dr. King wrote A Gift of Love: Sermons
From "Strength to Love" and Other Preachings that occupied an important place
in Christian literature, and by inspiring mythological and historical past he
argued that the story of human being was based upon a sort of conflict between
good and evil.102 At this point, it could be argued that King Jr. saw the rebirth of
the conflict between good and evil in America throughout the 20th century by
means of a nonviolent struggle that was sparked by himself, and he contended
that the resistance would ultimately lead to the good's triumph and the creation
of the beloved community. In this perspective, King Jr. symbolized a religious
awakening of absolute spiritual purity. He attempted to impose that religious
100 Martin Luther King, Where Do We Go from Here Chaos or Community? (Boston: Beacon
Press, 2010), p. 74.
101 Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (London: Penguin, 2018), p.6.
102 Martin Luther King, A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings (St
Ives: Penguin Books, 2017), p. 80.
70
awareness was the sole criteria that could reinforce the idea of beloved
community. As a result, Martin Luther King Jr. sought to eliminate any violent
tendencies while bolstering nonviolent resistance. 103 According to King's
perspective, the campaign for equality did not include any hostile attitudes
toward White Americans. The standpoint ought not be regarded merely based on
minority psychology. The only way to build the Beloved Community was to
overcome White Americans' potential overwhelming objection, and he pointed
out.
Time is cluttered with the wreckage of communities which surrendered to hatred and
violence. For the salvation of our nation and the salvation of mankind, we must follow
another way. This does not mean that we abandon our righteous efforts. With every
ounce of our energy, we must continue to rid this nation of the incubus of segregation.
But we shall not in the process relinquish our privilege and our obligation to love. While
abhorring segregation, we shall love the segregationist. This is the only way to create the
beloved community. 104
The point of view might indicate that the struggle would be dependent on a longterm
agenda and the campaign for equal nationality was not separatist in any
way. On the other hand, whether African Americans were unintentionally
subjugated on their way to the beloved community was unclear. The absence of
mob violence among African Americans at that time could be attributed to
King's beloved community campaign. The divinely inspired perspective aimed to
break down the glass ceiling that African Americans faced in their secular affairs
like public transportation or political participation. Martin Luther King
endeavored, in some ways, to resolve the mundane paradoxes and dilemmas of
African Americans by getting strength from spiritual standpoint. In 1959, his trip
to India was an essential component of his agenda for the beloved community.
Martin Luther King, Jr. described Mahatma Gandhi of India as the spiritual
103 Martin Luther King, A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings (St
Ives: Penguin Books, 2017), p. 135
104 Ibid., p. 53
71
guide of his method of nonviolent social transformation.105 He addressed that
the common ground of minority and colonial peoples in America, Africa, and
Asia that they were struggling to overcome racism and imperialism, it was the
strongest link of brotherhood.106 These statements emphasized that Martin Luther
King's pioneering contribution in promoting the concepts of beloved community
and nonviolent resistance to international awareness. The visit could be
interpreted as political propaganda for both the African Americans’ struggle for
equality and King Jr.'s authority, but it was perilous for the United States'
prestige under the atmosphere of the Cold War. In the A Gift of Love: Sermons
From "Strength to Love" and Other Preachings, he pointed out:
My privilege of traveling to India had a great impact on me personally, for it was
invigorating to see firsthand the amazing results of a nonviolent struggle to achieve
independence. The aftermath of hatred and bitterness that usually follows a violent
campaign was found nowhere in India, and a mutual friendship, based on complete
equality, existed between the Indian and British people within the Commonwealth. I
would not wish to give the impression that nonviolence will accomplish miracles
overnight. Men are not easily moved from their mental ruts or purged of their prejudiced
and irrational feelings. 107
As the explanation indicated, the visit to India surpassed the purely theoretical
aspect of the beloved community concept and embodied its practical significance
in King Jr.’s mind. However, King Jr.'s effort to compare the partnership that
referred between British and Indian society in the aftermath of Gandhi's passive
resistance to the potential relationship between African Americans and American
political authority could be problematic. Unlike the Indian national movement,
African American liberation movement that led by Martin Luther King Jr. did
not endorse for independence or separation. Furthermore, African Americans
shared visible linguistic and religious traditions with the authorities that they
105 Martin Luther King, Clayborne Carson, and Tenisha Armstrong, The Papers of Martin Luther
King, JR (Oakland: University of California Press, 2014), 231.
106 Ibid., 233
107 Martin Luther King, A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings (St
Ives: Penguin Books, 2017), p. 156-57
72
challenged. That's why it could be remarked that Gandhi and the Indian National
Movement were guiding lights methodologically in the sense of African
Americans and King Jr., however, there must have been discrepancies and
dilemmas in content. It could distinguish African Americans' campaign for equal
citizenship and Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership.
Letter from Birmingham Jail was a democratic plea to both White Americans
and African Americans, it was written by Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham
jail in 1963. The letter had been deemed one of the most historically significant
documents written by a contemporary political detainee by Encyclopedia of Race
and Crime. 108 In response to the declaration that was issued by eight White
clergymen in Birmingham, Martin Luther King Jr. drafted this letter. Those
clergymen issued an ultimatum to the events in Birmingham 109 by blaming
Martin Luther King Jr. of provocation and urged African Americans to pursue
legal procedures. 110 King Jr. utilized religious rhetoric to bring attention to the
inequalities that were faced by African Americans in his letter. He remarked that
the way of nonviolent resistance became an integral part of the struggle as a
result of the impact of the African American churches. In the letter, Rev. King Jr.
108 Helen Taylor Greene and Shaun L. Gabbidon, “Race and Crime: A Text, Reader,” in Race
and Crime: A Text, Reader (Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2012), 636.
109 In May 1963, police in Birmingham, Alabama, deployed water cannons and guard dogs to
disperse parading African American teenagers, since Birmingham prisons were already
overcrowded with numerous civil rights demonstrators. For detail, see Motion Picture,
Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Courtesy of CBS News on
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/multimedia/birmingham-protests.html .
110 The statement, called Call for Unity, condemned the Civil Rights Movement and Martin
Luther King Jr. for inciting additional violence in an irresponsible way. Those were signatories:
C. C. J. Carpenter, D.D., LL.D., Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Alabama Joseph Aloysius Durick,
D.D., Auxiliary Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Mobile, Birmingham Milton L. Grafman, Rabbi of
Temple Emanuel, Birmingham, Alabama Paul Hardin, Bishop of the Alabama-West Florida
Conference of the Methodist Church Nolan Bailey Harmon, Bishop of the North Alabama
Conference of the Methodist Church. George M. Murray, D.D., LL.D., Bishop Coadjutor,
Episcopal Diocese of Alabama Edward V. Ramage, Moderator, Synod of the Alabama
Presbyterian Church in the United States Earl Stallings, Pastor, First Baptist Church,
Birmingham, Alabama.
See https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/sites/mlk/files/lesson-activities/clergybirmingham1963.pdf .
73
referenced Christianity 17 times and nonviolence 18 times. It was entirely
appropriate with his social identity. Martin Luther King Jr. remarked that unless
African Americans' nonviolent resistance was respected and grasped, black
nationalism would gain margin by culminating to an interracial catastrophe. 111
There could be two ways to discuss the lesson. Firstly, Dr. King was suspicious
of that any act of violence would constitute African Americans' struggle
unjustifiable on the national and international scale. Secondly, he assumed that
any act of violence initiated by African Americans would jeopardize his
guidance. Moreover, King Jr. gave reference to some conflict zones among
African Americans by the purpose of proving his legitimacy and moderate
approaches. For instance, he pointed out that Elijah Muhammad's 112 Muslim
movement was composed of people who had completely rejected Christianity,
and the movement was bolstered by the frustration of African Americans with
the perseverance of racial segregation.113 It could be alleged that Christian
Whites had occupied more favorable place than Muslim African Americans
within the scope of the struggle in King Jr.’s way. In any scenario, the concept of
the beloved community would be based on religious fraternity, and Christian
Whites who endorsed African Americans' nonviolent resistance were potential
allies.
Martin Luther King Jr., released his book in 1958, called Stride toward Freedom,
and he discussed the harsh living conditions of African Americans in Alabama
during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and, he talked about his ideological path to
nonviolence resistance. Rosa Parks was mentioned only twice in the book. The
111 Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (London: Penguin, 2018), p.18.
112 Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975), who had presided over the Nation of Islam as a religious
leader, was African American separatist, and self-proclaimed Messenger of God. See National
Archive https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power/nation-of-islam .
113 Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (London: Penguin, 2018), p.17.
74
book provides significant insights to the Montgomery movement and may be
critical to grasp boycott strategies. In the book, he underlined that nonviolent
resistance sought to unite the principles of consent and violence while
eliminating both extremism and deviant behaviors. 114 Apparently, King Jr.
claimed to portray the core of nonviolence and rationality by attempting to
harmonize conflict and agreement. It was reasonable to infer that there might be
some concern about the legitimacy of the struggle in his mind. According to
King, the idea and inspiration for nonviolent resistance originated from Christ
while tactics were derived from Gandhi, and through the city's African American
churches, the rebellion could reach the masses. 115 As one could see, the role of
the church expanded and became partisan during the Montgomery Boycott. The
consistency between place and mentality was a key phenomenon for African
Americans to come together at that era. Hence, in a sense, Christian teachings,
which were articulated by King Jr. perpetually, were alive through nonviolent
resistance. At this phase, he inevitably underscored his opposition to Marx and
Lenin's revolutionary principles.
114 Martin Luther King and Clayborne Carson, Stride toward Freedom (Beacon Press, 2010),
208.
115 Ibid., p. 71.
75
CHAPTER IV
MONTGOMERY: A CITY THAT CHANGED UNITED STATES
Montgomery has been known as the "Cradle of the Confederacy,"116 and the
ancestral home of the Civil Rights Movement. With its roaring origins, the city
has a rich history. According to the book, called Alabama: The History of a Deep
South State, which was published in 2018 and gave a comprehensive overview of
Alabama's vibrant, profound, and frequently controversial rounds in history,
Alabama’s potential role in the rivalry of European imperialism dated back to the
16th to the 19th centuries, and the naval forces and troops of England, France,
and Spain battled one another for dominant position and property under the guise
of mercantilism. 117 The state consequently had to deal with the primary social
impact of the historical burden of imperial expansion over African Americans,
namely slavery. Alabama's slave population rose by 270.1% between 1830 and
1860, and Only 171 % more white people (526,271) were appended to the
community, 6.4 % of the white community owned slaves in 1860, when there
were 437,271 of them controlled by 33,730 slaveowners, though it's likely that
one-third of white Alabama households had slaveowners. 118 Alabama had
evolved into a suited venue for social tensions and historical watersheds within
this sociocultural order. Montgomery has been in Central Alabama, on the
116 Montgomery was declared as Alabama's capital in 1847 and grew rapidly as a river harbor and
cotton industry. The city has been known as the "Cradle of the Confederacy." The Confederate
States of America were established on February 4, 1861, by six southern states (South Carolina,
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana), shortly following the 1860 presidential
election that endorsed of Abraham Lincoln, a pro-slavery abolitionist. For detail, see Coleman
Hutchison, Apples and Ashes: Literature, Nationalism, and the Confederate States of America
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012).
117 William Warren Rogers et al., Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (Tuscaloosa: The
University of Alabama Press, 2018), 21.
118 Ibid., p.112
76
Alabama River. The area was first sparsely populated by Indians until 1716,
when the first white settlers arrived.119 The city was known after Richard
Montgomery, a Continental Army lieutenant general who passed away during
the American Revolution. It was officially established in 1819 and was marked
as the state capital in 1847. Delegates from six southern states voted in 1861 to
declare independence and constitute the newly formed "Confederate States of
America." They chose Montgomery as the new the Confederate States'
provisional capital during the Civil War. The city was only the capital only for
four months, but it earned the nickname "The Cradle of the Confederacy." 120
The city's economic growth was enhanced as a direct outcome of the cotton
industry. Even, with the money that they earned from cotton cultivation,
landholders began to purchase African slaves.121 While this loop was very
beneficial in helping the city flourish, the historical legacy of segregation for
African Americans did begin to become obvious. As a result, Montgomery,
which became a symbol in the United States' integration and consolidation
phase, gave the perception of a sociocultural developed city. During her visit to
Montgomery in 1857, Barbara Bodichon (1827–1891) 122, who was one of the
most prominent vanguards of women's rights in the 19th-century, gave the
following detail: Montgomery was a delightful town, where everyone appeared
to be well-groomed and tidy, and where the churches and schools were as
luminous and white as brand-new pennies.123 Montgomery became a hub for
119 For detail, see W. Craig Remington, The Metropolitan Montgomery Statistical Atlas and Data
Abstract/Edited by: W. Craig Remington (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, 1974).
120 Wayne Greenhaw, Montgomery: The River City (Montgomery: River City Pub., 2002), 51.
121 William Warren Rogers et al., Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (Tuscaloosa: The
University of Alabama Press, 2018), pp. 95-96.
122 For detail, see Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon on
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barbara-Leigh-Smith-Bodichon. Date of Access: 1st
August 2022.
123 William Warren Rogers et al., Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (Tuscaloosa: The
University of Alabama Press, 2018), p. 191.
77
African Americans who struggled for equality and justice in the twentieth
century as the formerly capital city of the Confederate States of America, which
was established as a result of slavery system campaigning and conservative state
balance and coordination.
Montgomery occupies a prominent place in the assessment of historical heritage.
As a former capital city of Confederate States of America, Montgomery, which
hosted one of the greatest nonviolent resistances of the 20th century, it
contextually illustrates the relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and
the revival of the United States' founding principles. This city hosted the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was one of the most notable events in recent
United States history and helped to make the Civil Rights Movement more
visible. According to American Census Bureau data from the 1950s, 68 % of the
population in Alabama, in which the city was the capital, was White, and 32 %
was Black. 124 Montgomery, in fact, was depicting social inequality and division.
These unfavorable conditions existed in other cities in which African Americans
lived. As maintained by Stewart Burns, in the 1950s, the approximately 50,000
African Americans living in Montgomery were divided by gender, education,
and economic status.125
124 Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung, Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals by Race,
1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, for the United States, Regions, Divisions,
and States (Washington, DC, 2002). No page. See table 15.
125 Stewart Burns, To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Mission to Save America 1955-
1968 (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2005), 21, 22.
78
Figure 24. Vacation Bible School graduation at the Salvation Army Citadel in
Montgomery, Alabama. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/26503 .
Figure 25. One Man, One Vote” signs & watchful police, 03/17-18/1965,
Montgomery. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/03/marching-in-montgomery-1965-
reconsidered/.
79
Figure 22, which was photographed by John E. Scott on June 13th 1952, depicts
Vacation Bible School a school graduation ceremony in Montgomery. Vacation
Bible School, which was also renowned as Sunday School or church school, was
a crucial Protestant tradition that was typically held in the summer to provide
religious education to children and adolescents.126 General William Booth, a
Methodist minister, did serve as the organization's pioneer when the Salvation
Army was created in London, England, in 1865. A component of the church was
evangelical in nature, and its objective was to spread the encouraging news of
Jesus Christ, and over time it had expanded to be an international
organization.127 The total lack of African Americans in the photograph, although
there were almost twenty students who were postured under the portrait of Jesus
Christ, image could be seen as a projection of educational inequality in the
United States in this city. Despite this available record, the Salvation Army
turned down the allegations of racial segregation that was articulated against the
organization in a statement that was issued on November 25, 2021 and presented
the argument that racism refuted Christian doctrine.128 On the other hand, Figure
23 was related to depicts a march for universal suffrage which was held in March
of 1965 in Montgomery. On the placards, demonstrators underlined “One Man,
One Vote to wipe out the hindrance before the suffrage. The 1965 Voting Rights
Act marked a watershed moment in the history of African Americans in the
South. The Voting Rights Act vetoed states from using literacy tests and other
methods to deny African Americans’ right to vote. Previous to this, only around
23% of blacks of voting age were registered in the United States, but by 1969,
126 For detail, see Sunday School on https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sunday-school. Date of
Access: 4th August 2022.
127 Beth R. Crisp, The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Spirituality and Social Work (London:
Routledge, 2019), 157.
128 See the Topic of Racism on https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/story/the-salvation-armysresponse-
to-false-claims-on-the-topic-of-racism/. Date of Access: 4th August 2022.
80
that graph had risen to 61%.129 Some protesters were passing by the police
station with their heads bowed, and the officials' assertive gaze could be
observed. The march brought in attention to the consensus of White and Black
Americans, and demonstrates that the solidarity after at the boycott can be
interpreted as an outcome of the civil disobedience to that aimed to lessen social
polarization. It's because like several other cities in the South, Montgomery
became a city where African Americans acknowledged the legacy of struggle,
built a nonviolent and result-oriented social struggle, and the more importantly,
came closer to their White allies. As cooperation continued to increase, African
Americans managed to gain more room to tussle and gain credibility. The path
and cooperation revealed that African Americans just have had more room for
maneuver in the pursuit of equality. Such a scenario, in turn, increased the
capacity to organize.
Evaluating some demographic data will also provide important hints as to why
Montgomery's role in the American Civil Rights Movement is considerable
worth mentioning for African Americans. The comprehensive publication, which
was compiled in 1963 by the government-run Montgomery City Planning
Commission, sheds light on the city's social and economic aspects.
Population of the region: 1940, 1950 & 1960
Years 1940 1950 1960
The Region,
including
Montgomery
548,234
535,691
530,813
The Region,
excluding
Montgomery
433,814
396,726
361,603
Figure 26. The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery p.61. Accessed on 25
June 2022 on https://www.montgomeryal.gov/ .
129 See Voting Rights for African Americans on https://www.loc.gov/classroommaterials/
elections/right-to-vote/voting-rights-for-african-americans/. Accessed on 4th August of
2022.
81
Trends in Non-Farm Employment in Montgomery Metropolitan Area: 1950-
1960
Fields Average Average Change
Manufacturing 5,900 6,992 1092
Trade 10,587 11,732 1,145
Transportation 4,092 3,640 -452
Finance, Insurance,
Real Estate
2,000 2,784 784
Construction 3,819 3,973 154
Miscellaneous
Service
13,033 15,201 2,168
Government 6,908 9,134 2,226
Total 46,339 53,456 7,117
Figure 27. The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery p.61. Accessed on 25
June 2022 on https://www.montgomeryal.gov/ .
While there was a limited decline in the total population in of Montgomery refers
because of a well-balanced economy with a widening income base, and urban
areas had risen in population at the time. The limited decline was derived from
poverty, bad schooling, a lack of good employment, racial intolerance, political
upheaval and an absence of leadership, and a decline in agriculture.130 According
to the data, the growth in the number of employees in the public and service
sectors boosted the city's income level. Besides, yet the significant increase in
non-agricultural labor force participation rates in production, trade, and public
services brings more attention was also significant, as it is shown in the two
tables demonstrate. In 1950, The urbanized area had a population of 106,525
people, of whom 63,755 (60%) were white and 42,445 (40%) were non-white in
130 William Warren Rogers et al., Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (Tuscaloosa: The
University of Alabama Press, 2018),p.545.
82
Montgomery. 131 In this regard, Montgomery experienced the same
socioeconomic trend that the United States faced following World War II. The
1950s to 1970s were often referred to be the “Golden Age” of American
capitalism, and income per capita rose at a 2.25 percent over the period
throughout those years, and abundance was broadened as a high portion of
Americans attained the middle class.132 According to the table, the percentage of
middle -– class people had also increased.
Percentage of the Total Black Labor Force of the U.S. Employed in Three Major
Occupations for 1950, 1960, 1970, and 1981
Occupational Group 1950 1960 1970 1981
Professionals&Technical 3.33 5.16 7.52 13.10
Managers, Officials&Proprietors 1.77 2.13 2.11 5.90
Clerical & Sales 4.66 7.91 14.22 21.60
Total 9.76 15.20 23.85 10.60
Figure 28. Characteristics of the Population, U.S. Summary, General Social and
Economic Characteristics, 1960. 133
According to this table, there was a relative gain in the economic standing of
African Americans across the country between 1950 and 1960. The proportion of
African Americans employed in professional occupations climbed from 3% to
5%. The share of African Americans who were managers and property owners,
on the other hand, increased from 1.77 percent to 2.33 percent with very little
131 US Bureau of the Census, 1950 US Census of Population, Table 55. Citizenship by Age,
Color, and Sex, for the State and for Cities of 100,000 or More: 1950, 1950. Date of Access: 4th
August 2022.
132 For detail, see The Forces Making for an Economic Collapse by Thomas I. Palley on
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/07/the-forces-making-for-an-economiccollapse/
376621/. Accessed Date: 4th August 2022.
133 Thomas J. Durant and Joyce S. Louden, “The Black Middle Class in America: Historical and
Contemporary Perspectives,” Phylon (1960-) 47, no. 4 (1986): p. 253,
https://doi.org/10.2307/274621, 256.
83
change. African Americans in Montgomery, on the other hand, suffered harsher
inequality and unfairness in terms of economic segregation. In 1950, the average
household income in Montgomery’s different neighborhoods ranged from $2,353
to $16,675, and 72 % of African Americans earned an average of $2,353 per
month, for white people, this was 16 %, additionally, just 0.7% of African
Americans had a monthly salary of $16,675.134 According to the statistics,
relatively few non-white people were middle-class or higher than their white
neighbors. Those economic and social boundaries hindered the establishment of
a democratic social order regardless of racial distinctions in Montgomery and
Alabama. Hence, Montgomery emerged as one of the potential hub of the Civil
Rights Movement due to the lack of fair society. The rise of the middle class is
among the factors that contribute to the survival of a stable democratic order. As
an outcome of the transformation of economic and social concerns, Montgomery
became an important location for the future of the citizenship movement. Then,
the surge in the number of employees in the public and service sector involved
the social dynamics of the city and, most likely, generated a consideration for
defending a democratic and stable order. One of the important reasons why the
citizenship movement could gain a momentum in Montgomery was the existence
of the middle class, which represented a moderate and balanced public reaction
in the social hierarchy.
134 US Bureau of the Census, 1950 US Census of Housing, Block Statistics,
Table 2. Characteristics of Housing by Wards, 1950 on
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/housing-volume-
1/36965082v1p2ch01.pdf. Date of Access: 4th August 2022.
84
Employment Trends, State of Alabama 1950-1960
Persons 1950 1960
Non-Farm Employment 226,065 282,992
Trade 152,365 180,743
Government 38,162 59,119
Other 364,337 440,968
Non-Farm Total 780,929 963,822
Farm Employment 250,751 102,075
Total 1.031,680 1.065,897
Figure 29. The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery p.8. Accessed on 25
June 2022 on https://www.montgomeryal.gov/ .
Besides that, the general social portrait framework of Alabama, of which
Montgomery is the capital, can provide some indications about citizens' changing
demands and expectations. The quantifiable growth of the non - agricultural
employees embodies the formation of a state-level middle class. The rise in the
number of laborers in production, trade, commerce, and public services in the
1950s, according to the table, indicates that the number of socially and
economically free people expanded. However, based on previous statistics,
people who experienced this transformation were mostly White Americans in the
city. The process resulted in a more transparent and moderate large-scale mindset
among the public opinion African Americans toward democratic ideas, political
participation, and civil society struggle. According to American economist
Edward Ludwig Glaeser, cities could also encourage the uprising by lessening
the hazards for campaigners, and the costs of demonstrating or resisting as the
number of protestors grows since bigger groups make it more difficult for police
to target any particular protester.135 In other words, the African American
upsurge for equality that grew in Montgomery could not be evaluated purely in
terms of campaign strategies and intimidations of the authority. Besides, the
135 Denise DiPasquale and Edward L Glaeser, “The Los Angeles Riot and the Economics of
Urban Unrest,” Journal of Urban Economics 43, no. 1 (1998): p.52
https://doi.org/10.1006/juec.1996.2035.
85
general framework of the locale had played a crucial role at the dawn of the
insurrection. Simultaneously, African Americans had also gained both functional
and emotional allies as the city's socioeconomic conditions changed. These new
allies were citizens whose economic income and lifestyle transformed, as well as
their tacit support for the process of democratic institutionalization. The
cooperation had been fostered by urban close vicinity, and upheavals necessarily
required people to act and try to plan around each other. The tables above also
show that educational opportunities, attaining economic well-being and retaining
economic and social rights promotes promoted awareness of democracy and
civic participation in terms of the process and outcomes of the Boycott.
According to Yohuru Williams, Montgomery was like so many Southern cities at
the time, and the racial process was no more or less authoritarian than in other
cities while the anger conveyed by the Black community was not entirely
unusual. 136 There is no clear consensus on the institutional factors that affect
movement implications, and agendas can help movement implications in a
multitude of ways.137From this perspective, the following factors contributed to
Montgomery's prominence in the Civil Rights Movement.
1. The social atmosphere in the city shaped by organizations and
organizational behavior management
2. Leadership and wisdom that sprang up as a pure and direct reflection of
the organizational behaviors
3. The impact of ordinary citizen attitudes and engagement in the
organization's growth.
4. Deciding the boycott as a method of action, which was a nonviolent and
passive form of social activism
5. The agenda for long-term and result-oriented struggle
136 Yohuru R. Williams, Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement (New York: Routledge, Taylor
& Francis Group, 2016), 21.
137 David S. Meyer, Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett, Social Movements Identity, Culture,
and the State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 107.
86
The items listed above will be discussed in the relevant sections of the
chapter.
4.1. Rosa Parks: Sitting for Awakening
The event which took place in Montgomery on December 1, 1955, had a
profound impact on the composition and path of the Civil Rights Movement. She
left work and boarded the bus, and the driver strongly urged African Americans
to give place for the Whites after six more White passengers boarded the bus at
the Empire Theater station, however she refused to give up her seat. 138 Parks
reacted that she had paid the same ticket price and would not get up when the
bus driver asked if she was going to up. 139 The bus driver reportedly threatened
to arrest Rosa Parks if she did not get up, and she refused again, so the bus
continued to remain stable until two white police officers showed up, and Rosa
Parks was detained and transported to jail by the officers.140 Racial
discrimination had been visible in the social realm across the United States.
Despite several state-wide court issues,141 there was phenomenal inequality and
inclusivity betweenWhites and African Americans through basic civil rights such
as education, transportation, and social utilities. Thus, African Americans
suffered glass ceilings as a result of state-sponsored social racism, which also led
the society to turn its back on common concerns.
138 Mary Hull, Rose Parks Civil Rights Leader (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994), 4,5.
139 Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Boston, MA:
Beacon Press, 2021), 63, 64.
140 Anne E. Schraff, Rosa Parks (Irvine, CA: Saddleback Educational Pub., 2008), 27.
141 Briggs v. Elliott, 342 U.S. 350 (1952), retained school segregation in Summerton, South
Carolina, on plea from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina. It was
the first of five cases that was combined into Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the iconic
case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal and
unconstitutional by superseding the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. For detail
see U.S. Reports: Briggs v. Elliott, 342 U.S. 350 (1952) on Library of Congress on
https://www.loc.gov/item/usrep342350/ . Date of Access: 4th August 2022.
87
Figure 30. Police Report, December 1, 1955, Page 1 Civil Case 1147 Browder,
et al v. Gayle, et. al; U.S. District Court for Middle District of Alabama.
Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks .
The police report which was issued on December 1st in 1955 told that the arrest
of Parks was occurred in front of Empire Theatre that was located on Lewis
Street. According to the police report, after the officers spoke to the bus driver it
was informed that “colored woman” , namely Rosa Parks, sat down on the white
section of the bus and remained there, and they took the statement down at
roughly 6:00 p.m. on December 1, 1955. The police report tells that the event
occurred on Lewis Street, and J. F. Blake, the driver, was the one who
denounced Rosa Parks. More importantly, this police report revealed Rosa Parks'
violation of Section 6 of 11 of the Montgomery City Code. This article required
88
that races must have sat separately on the bus and that they must have been
obeyed police orders if they were warned.
Figure 31. Police Report, December 1, 1955, Page 2 Civil Case 1147 Browder,
et al v. Gayle, et. al; U.S. District Court for Middle District of Alabama.
Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks.
On the second page of the report, there is information about Rosa Parks' personal
and physical features. For instance, Parks was supposed to have brown eyes and
black hair and to be about 160 cm in height and 63 weight. Parks' profession as a
seamstress was also noted as alterationship. Parks' occupation offers valuable
details about his financial circumstances. She did not own a car and relied on
89
public transportation and was earning only $23 per week.142 Additionally, the
birthplace and date of birth of Parks were included in the police report. The
following illustration that was released by the police station marked Parks'
position when she refused to leave the bus seat.
The detainment of Rosa Parks was significant in terms of assessing the Civil
Rights Movement's institutional and methodological attitudes. Likewise, Parks'
detention urged a shift in perception in this movement, first locally and then
nationally. Mrs. Parks was more than just a regular citizen; she was the secretary
of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), and she was also not the first person in Montgomery to stand
up and protest the humiliation of bus segregation; several others had been
arrested the previous year.143 Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old African American
woman, had been convicted several months earlier for refusing to concede her
seat to a white passenger, and Afro Americans would think the conviction were
unfair, but because Claudette was pregnant and unmarried at the time, she was
not regarded as a sympathetic public figure, and some worried that she would
impact poorly on their struggle.144 The NAACP maintained pragmatic stances in
its efforts to bring bus segregation to the government's agenda. On the other
hand, Mary Louise Smith, 18, was arrested on a municipal bus in October 1955,
but the NAACP leaders considered she was no more qualified as a national
appellant than Colvin had been, because Smith's father was an alcoholic.145
Vioala White and Mary Katie Wingfield were also prosecuted for refusing to
142 Joyce Ann Hanson, Rosa Parks: A Biography (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2011), 64.
143 Robert Jerome Glennon, “The Role of Law in the Civil Rights Movement: The Montgomery
Bus Boycott, 1955–1957,” Law and History Review 9, no. 1 (1991): pp. 59-112,
https://doi.org/10.2307/743660, 62.
144 Mary Hull, Rose Parks Civil Rights Leader (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994), 11-
12.
145 Ibid., p. 50.
90
give up their seats to white people.146 Mrs. Parks' arrest ignited a public reaction
since African-American activists saw regarded her specific instance as an
appropriate vehicle for encouraging the society to seek alternatives towards the
Jim Crow system. Consequently, several people seemed to think Parks' attitude
was part of a conspiracy created by the NAACP. In fact, Rosa Parks' affiliation
with the NAACP dated back to 1930s. Parks' participation had been bolstered by
her husband Raymond's engagement in the initiative to liberate the "Scottsboro
Boys"147 in the 1930, and nine black teenagers were sentenced to death on
nullified sexual assault charges.148
Figure 32. Illustration of bus where Rosa Parks sat. Accessed on 23rd April on
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks.
146 For detail see Robinson Jo Ann Gibson, The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who
Started It the Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville: Univ. Of Tennessee Press,
2011),p.21, and see The Ladies Before Rosa on
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/04/12/the-ladies-before-rosa/469bf82c-
16c0-45c5-9991-812ac6a6005f/. Accesed Date: 9th August 2022.
147 Nine black teenagers were mistakenly charged with raping two whitewhite women on a cargo
train in Scottsboro, Alabama, on March 25, 1931. Raymond Parks got to visit them in prison and
covertly met with other black activists to collect donations for their defending. Within a month,
eight of the nine youths were convicted and sentenced to death. See the NAACP Records on
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-this-exhibition/early-lifeand-
activism/scottsboro-boys/ . Access Date: 22nd July 2022.
148 C. Carson, “To Walk in Dignity: The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” OAH Magazine of History
19, no. 1 (January 2005): pp. 13-15, https://doi.org/10.1093/maghis/19.1.13, 13.
91
The detainment of Rosa Parks had both social and personal consequences. Parks
and her husband were not even in the middle-income level. Parks and his
husband, Raymond Parks, were both fired as a result of the detention. The
following official documents indicates that Raymond and Rosa Parks were
reported as $3,749 in total salary on this 1955 Federal Tax Return form. The
couple's revenue was markedly smaller than the US average income by about
$5,000.
Figure 33. Raymond and Rosa Parks’s 1955 Income Tax Return, 1956. Rosa
Parks Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. Accessed on 23rd April
2022 on https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/aboutthis-
exhibition/the-bus-boycott/1955-income-tax-return/ .
92
The Cold War-Era’s increasing demonization and marginalization targeted Parks
and African Americans once again. Some even claimed it was part of "the
Communist-Jewish conspiracy." 149 Parks' imprisonment confirmed the
polarization of the American society as well as the driving force behind hatchet
jobs, which was a remarkable development. The detention of Rosa Parks resulted
in the bolstering of community- oriented political means and implications in
Montgomery. Prominent non-governmental organizations and civic leaders
decided to act. Two non-governmental organizations managed to stand out in
this context. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had also
attempted to turn Parks' stance into mass and nonviolent resistance. On
December 5, 1955, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was
established in Montgomery, Alabama, to guide the black boycott of the city's
segregated buses. Rosa Parks did serve on as the executive board members, and
Martin Luther King, Jr. was the appointed leader. The MIA's primary objective
was to assemble passive social opposition by initiating a long-term, resultoriented
campaign. At this point, ordinary African American citizens who
experienced challenges in their daily lives were distinguished as the target group
of the association.
The pioneering cadre that decided to boycott the bus, notably the MIA, tried to
take some precautions to ensure that the citizens of the city did not give up their
right to for public transportation. A voluntary resilience was launched, and a
communication network was rigged up. The identities of some of those who
actively supported the resistance which was triggered by the MIA were listed in
the following notebook. Dr. King's name was also referenced in the upper left
corner of the note paper. Along with King Jr.'s name, the document also included
the names of Edgar French, Edgar Daniel Nixon, and L. Roy Bennett. French
and Bennett were prominent clergy in Montgomery, and Nixon was a former
149 Donnie Williams, The Thunder of Angels the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People Who
Broke the Back of Jim Crow\CDonnie Williams and Wayne Greenhaw (Lawrence & Wishart
Ltd, 2007), 174.
93
president of the NAACP's Montgomery branch, and those four leaders
coordinated the boycott as well as the Carpool action plan, which was sponsored
by MIA.150 This document would be eminent, because it highlighted the major
impact of ordinary citizens’ attitudes on the expansion of an organization during
the Civil Rights Movement. To assure that the boycott did not disturb African
Americans' mobility needs, the MIA established a transportation committee and
developed a carpool system with particular drop-off and pickup stations for
former black bus riders, and African Americans who possessed cars operated in
particular zones, transported passengers to their destination for free.151
Furthermore, the MIA's action plan across Montgomery in response to statesponsored
social discrimination demonstrated the movement's pledge to
materialize results-oriented and nonviolent tussle. According to this perspective,
the process that began with Rosa Parks' custody reached the level that threatened
the authority and limited its zone of influence by the MIA.
Figure 34. Montgomery Fair date book, 1955–1956. Rosa Parks Papers,
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-thisexhibition/
the-bus-boycott/carpool-notebook/ .
150 Mary Hull, Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Leader (Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993),
54.55.
151 Joyce Ann Hanson, Rosa Parks: A Biography (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2011), 101.
94
As the book, titled Social Movements: Identity, Culture, and the State points out,
protest can have an implication on authorities by having a sense of crisis,
destabilization, or security risk, trying to persuade third parties, or generating
sympathy for a movement's constituency or claims. 152 In fact, the Rosa Parks
case displayed not only the ability of African Americans to persuade and
manipulate state authorities, but also their ability to orchestrate one another,
Because the NAACP and MIA have had occasionally endorsed alternative
opinions and methods on this matter. The NAACP, which had a deeper history
than MIA and sought to broaden the citizenship movement through legal means,
was abstained more than MIA in the Rosa Parks case. According to Robert
Jerome Glennon, the NAACP would no longer engage in a plea that addressed
the credibility of racial inequality by soliciting only more tactful segregation.153
Despite this, there was a chance that the Rosa Parks’ tragedy would enable
African Americans' emotional bonds to become pragmatic ones.
There were five well-known bus lines, which were called Capital Motor,
Colonial Trailways, Continental Trailways, Greyhound Bus Lines and
Montgomery City Lines in the city throughout those years, according to the
Montgomery City Planning Council's report, and the commission report
indicated that there were 138 buses in the city.154 The accomplishment of the
campaign and the building of alternative routes were depended on the social
atmosphere of the city and the daily attitudes of the inhabitants due to the
organization of the resistance against this massive transportation network. Under
the leadership of the MIA numerous black entrepreneurs and dwellings in
152 David S. Meyer, Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett, Social Movements Identity, Culture,
and the State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 108.
153 Robert Jerome Glennon, “The Role of Law in the Civil Rights Movement: The Montgomery
Bus Boycott, 1955–1957,” Law and History Review 9, no. 1 (1991): pp. 59-112,
https://doi.org/10.2307/743660, 66.
154 The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery, an official document that was published by
City Planning Commission, on July 11, 1963. P. 20. Retrieved from
https://www.montgomeryal.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/7983/636111051008400000 .
Date of Access: 4th July 2022.
95
Montgomery's downtown area were assigned as delivery and transfer terminals,
and thousands of handouts were published, including a timetable and a map of
Montgomery indicating the location of 48 dispatch and 42 picking stations.155
During the racist process of bus segregation that hampered their transportation
rights, African Americans faced a torrent of abuses and humiliations. Therefore,
during the boycott campaign, city residents—especially those of African
American descent—became passive resistance fighters. In her memoirs, Jo Ann
Robinson, a prominent civil rights activist during the Civil Rights Movement,
described the humiliation towards African Americans in the transportation
network. She reminded that Black riders were frequently called "black nigger,"
"black bitches," "heifers," and “whores” by most of the drivers, and they would
be troubled, nervous, exhausted, frightened, and outraged.156
Figure 35. During the boycott, many buses on the road had few passengers.
(Photo taken in 1956 by Dan Weiner, accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/02/11/podcast-montgomery-bus-boycottwomens-
political-council/ .
The photograph that was taken by Dan Weiner in 1956 elucidated that many
buses on the road were unoccupied during the boycott. A White woman sat alone
155 Mary Hull, Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Leader (New York: Infobase publishing, 2007), 67.
156 Robinson Jo Ann Gibson, The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It the
Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2011), 36.
96
on the bus in the photograph. The women's gestures and body language
expressed that she was trying to make sense of the boycott. Furthermore, the
empty bus indicated the success of the Carpool action plan. During the
implementation of the plan, the MIA maintained forty stations across the city,
and drivers paid ten cents, similar to the bus, while passengers used the "V for
victory" sign to identify themselves to riders and drivers, and the MIA adopted
the "V" as its emblem on loyalty cards.157 It implied that Afro-Americans who
were agitated by Rosa Parks' attitude, accepted being the leading participants of
social resistance by eliminating their economic concerns from everyday life.
According to Doron Shultziner, the Blacks who took the buses in Montgomery
were poor and mostly they were working in Whites' houses to increase their
income.158 The phenomenon embodied the results-oriented and long-term
strategy of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in which African Americans
experienced an organized manner at high level. At the same time, it could prove
that attitudes and priorities of ordinary citizens might smoothly change when
their freedom zone eroded.
157 Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Boston, MA:
Beacon Press, 2021), 95.
158 Doron Shultziner, “The Social-Psychological Origins of the Montgomery Bus Boycott: Social
Interaction and Humiliation in the Emergence of Social Movements,” Mobilization: An
International Quarterly 18, no. 2 (January 2013): pp. 117-142,
https://doi.org/10.17813/maiq.18.2.83123352476r2x82, 126.
97
Figure 36. Rosa Parks Papers: Events. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss85943.001906/?sp=2&r=-
0.536,0.061,1.933,0.945,0
As the poster pointed points out, Rosa Parks was asked to appear at the NAACP
event at a church in Baltimore in 1956. The thing that this is event, which was
taken took place in the final days of the Bus Boycott, was held in the Sharp
Street MethodistChurch, and it illustrated how religious rhetoric and venues
served as a unifying theme among African Americans during the boycott in
terms of assembling location and the performance of the church choir. The
slogan of “Kick-off Mass Meeting could give a strong impression on the people
to join the meeting. Besides, the involvement of a musical festival at the event
may possibly marked to a theme on about which African Americans could share
their common concerns and sufferings at that time. The fact that the event was
being held in Baltimore, a city densely populated by African Americans, was
significant in terms of displaying the boycott's persistence and consolidation
98
strategy. More to point, Baltimore was the headquarter of the NAACP as a
triggering organization during the boycott.159
Figure 37. NAACP Atlantic City Branch flyer advertising a lecture by Rosa
Parks, November 16, 1956. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosaparks-
in-her-own-words/about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/naacp-v-alabama-
1958/ .
Following Parks' detention, the NAACP tried to hold events in different cities in
a bid to unite African Americans. Rosa Parks became one of the icons of the
Civil Rights Movement as illustrated by the poster above. The NAACP
organized the event in issue on November 16, 1956, in a church, and it included
a concert many other events that carried out similar goals. The NAACP opted for
159 See National Association of the Advancement of Colored People on
https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Association-for-the-Advancement-of-Colored-
People. Accessed 8th August 2022.
99
the term "Crusade for Freedom"160 for this poster to reaffirm the distinctiveness
of Parks' story. It was clear that the notion, which was one of the mottos of the
United States' anti-communist propaganda agenda during the Cold War, was
carried over the Civil Rights Movement. However, whether the term was used
with a religious overtone was dubious. Although Rosa Parks was no't an ordinary
African American due to her activist self - image, she had also guided ordinary
African Americans in playing a key role during the civic movement and had
bolstered Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership.
4.2. The Boycott and Martin Luther King Jr.: Keeping Alive
Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership and attitudes during the Montgomery Bus
Boycott will be discussed in this section by utilizing his memories and some
historical documents from that time. The next chapter will be focusing on Dr.
King's intellectual analysis in detail. Montgomery Bus Boycott held a special
place in his life because it was the first time Dr. King had inspired a mass action
in terms of the Civil Rights Movement. The boycott had included both legal and
socio-political elements that impeded a long-term struggle, so it was not in the
bag to materialize short-term measurable results and expectations. Dr. King's
leanings, which favored nonviolence and passive resistance, were costly in such
a social environment. Therefore, the Bus Boycott generated King, who was able
to take a peaceful political stand during the hostile scene of the Cold War, but he
was not the only one who conceived the boycott. Furthermore, the fact that Dr.
King was actively involved in the establishment of the MIA and had an influence
in the development of an alternative institution to the NAACP, it also bolstered
his leadership. Neither did King foresee that the boycott that he vigorously led
would have far-reaching outcomes in African American history.
160 From 1950 to 1960, the Crusade for Freedom was an American propaganda campaign. Its
public primary aim was to secure funding for Radio Free Europe; however, it also continued to
serve to cover up the CIA's financial support of Radio Free Europe and to accumulate
international support for American Cold War policies. The phrase was also used to identify
African Americans' struggle for equal citizenship on some propaganda posters. See : Martin
Medhurst, “Eisenhower and the Crusade for Freedom: The Rhetorical Origins of a Cold War
Campaign,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 24, no. 4 (1997): pp. 646-647.
100
On December 5, 1957, he delivered a speech at Holt Street Baptist Church and
said that they had no idea that they were launching a movement of international
extents, the boycott would have an impact on the world's nations and serve as a
beacon of hope for oppressed minorities. and the boycott would ring in the ears
of people from every nation, and bounce and mesmerize the abuser's imagination
while having left a sparkling star of hope engraved in the midnight horizon of the
oppressed.161 The following below photograph that was taken by Ralph
Abernathy in 1955, illustrated illustrates that Dr. King and Ms. Parks were
participating in a boycott briefing together. In this respect, it should be remarked
that Dr. King's prevalent engagement in boycott-related events, as well as his
good communication with Mrs. Parks--, perhaps presumably the boycott's most
important iconic figure, --impacted the boycott's destiny.
Figure 38. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph Abernathy, Ebenezer
Baptist Church During Bus Boycott. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://www.si.edu/object/rosa-parks-martin-luther-king-jr-and-ralph-abernathyebenezer-
baptist-church-during-bus-boycott:nmaahc_2011.49.11 .
161Carson Clayborne, “The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Symbol of the Movement, January
1957–December 1958, vol 4 (2000): p. 329, https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520341920-001.
101
Dr. King defined his leadership experience during the Bus Boycott in his book A
Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings, in which he
analyzes the formation of political and social power. He remarked that he had
not suffered life's challenges until he became a member of the leadership of the
Montgomery bus protest, and that he began to receive threatening phone calls
and letters in his house almost immediately after the campaign began.He noted
that he was not faced with the trials of life until he became a member of the
leadership of the Montgomery bus protest, and began to receive threatening
phone calls and letters in his home almost immediately after the movement
began.162 At that juncture, the Bus Boycott was embodied by the mindset and the
course of action that were set off by the Montgomery Improvement Association
(the MIA) and Martin Luther King Jr. while Mrs. Parks was merely being turned
into a kind of symbolic silhouette with the intention of sparking off the masses
during the church engagements. For instance, Rosa Parks remained silent even
at the Holt Street Church rally on December 5, 1955, the day the boycott
commenced, despite the participation of thousands of people, King Jr. and Rev.
French, on the other hand, delivered addresses in which they portrayed Parks as a
victim of oppression and authoritarian principles.163
162 Martin Luther King et al., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other
Preachings (UK: Penguin, 2017), 110.
163 Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Boston, MA:
Beacon Press, 2021), 92.
102
Figure 39. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. at mass meeting in local
church. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Accessed on 23rd
April 2022 on https://www.si.edu/object/rosa-parks-and-martin-luther-kingjr:
npg_NPG.2009.4 .
Dr. King and Mrs. Park were being captured on camera by Constantine Manos at
a boycott meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, and when Dr.
King would be preparing to give a speech with the Bible in his hand, Edgar
Daniel Nixon was trying to tell him. Rosa Parks was sitting in the front seat with
humble and shy gestures. While it was apparent that the attendees were weary,
the camera captured two people who were yawning. Additionally, most
participants were female. It may be alleged that Dr. King's election as chairman
of the MIA promoted him to a role of natural leadership, and he was able to
encourage feelings of determination and patriotism among African Americans in
the struggle. King Jr. also asserted that people regarded him as a leader and that
if he was discouraged, the resistance would be undermined.164 Dr. King's
acceptance speech as president was considerable to display the general character
of the boycott and the citizenship movement. Here, King Jr. reiterated equal
American citizenship by trying to imply that the boycott was not compelled by a
separatist agenda.
164 Martin Luther King et al., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other
Preachings (UK: Penguin, 2017), 111.
103
We are here this evening for serious business. We are here in a general sense
because first and foremost, we are American citizens, and we are determined to
acquire our citizenship to the fullness of its meaning. We are here because of
our deep-seated belief that democracy transformed from thin paper to thick
action is the greatest form of government on earth. But we are here in a specific
sense because of the bus situation in Montgomery. We are here because we are
determined to get the situation corrected. 165
During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. King made extensive use of religious
rhetoric. He was using religious references to clarify his aspiration of peaceful
protests and nonviolent resistance. He was inspired not only by religious
references, but also by leaders of the universal freedom struggle, such as
Mahatma Gandhi. Dr. King's book, A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to
Love and Other Preachings (1963), in which he tried aspired to synthesize
Christian teachings and methods of social enlightenment, and it aimed to
appraise the memories of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The Negroes of Montgomery, exhausted by the embarrassing memories they
had forced to endure on the buses, conveyed their dedication to be free in a
gigantic act of non-cooperation. They noticed that walking down the streets in
dignity was ultimately more respectable than riding the buses in humiliation.
The people asked me to be their spokesman at the start of the protest. Accepting
this duty, my mind was drawn back to the Sermon on the Mount and the
Gandhian method of nonviolent resistance, whether consciously or
unconsciously. This principle had become our movement's beacon of light.
Gandhi provided the method, while Christ provided the spirit and motivation. 166
On December 25, 1955, Montgomery's top clergy and the MIA committee
drafted a proclamation, called “To the Montgomery Public”, to enlighten the
townspeople and the American public opinion. On behalf of the MIA, Martin
Luther King Jr. was among those who agreed to sign the declaration. The
following statement, which has nine titles and three main sections, may clarify
the boycott's primary goal and methods, furthermore, the document might
demonstrate how impactful Doctor King's mode of struggle and ideology were
165 Randall Kennedy, “Martin Luther King's Constitution: A Legal History of the Montgomery
Bus Boycott,” The Yale Law Journal 98, no. 6 (1989), https://doi.org/10.2307/796572, 1021.
166 Martin Luther King et al., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other
Preachings (UK: Penguin, 2017), 126.
104
during the boycott. It was published on 25th December 1955 by seven African
American ministers of Montgomery. Those were Joshua W. Hayes, Hillmon
Hannibal Hubbard, Ralph David Abernathy, L. Roy Bennett, Joseph C. Parker,
Uriah J. Fields along with King Jr.167 . The petitioners, primarily Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., alluded to the humiliation that African Americans faced on the
bus. While mentioning the discrimination that was exacerbated by the seating
plan in the buses, not only racial segregation but also the rights and priorities of
pregnant, female and elderly passengers were mentioned. Following a summary
of the detentions and murders that were committed by bus segregation, a little
baby's injury was indeed explained. According to the statement, Claudette
Colvin, Mary Louise Smith Alberta Smith, Rosa Parks, Viola White, Mary
Wingfield, and two children of New Jersey were arrested for challenging bus
segregation, and a man named Brooks was also gunned down. In the meantime,
the petitioners managed to avoid stereotyping and defaming their claims and
assertions, instead, they preferred to glorify some bus drivers' fair and polite
behaviors towards African Americans.
Dr. King and other partners participants noted that the boycott was a natural
outcome of not only Ms. Parks' detention, but also of long-standing racial
segregation against African Americans. The impacts of Dr. King were also
comprehended in the section of the paper titled "The Nature of Movement."
Here, while bringing up the moral grounds for the boycott, passive resistance and
nonviolent struggle were also reiterated. The participants concluded the
declaration by reaffirming their commitment for the democratic struggle and
embodiment of Christian principles. The Montgomery Bus Boycott's objectives
were inspired by the intellectual orientation of these Christian leaders,
167 Those were all Montgomery's most prominent community and political figures. They all
played key roles in the Montgomery Improvement Association and the NAACP. After the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Abernathy was elected president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference. For detail see
http://crdl.usg.edu/people/h/hayes_joshua_w/?Welcome,
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/abernathy-ralph-david and
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/minutes-montgomery-improvementassociation-
founding-meeting-u-j-fields. Accessed Date: 9th August 2022.
105
particularly Dr. King Jr. Moreover, it could be asserted that directly referring to
religious and moral principles was one of the most vital factors in promoting the
legitimacy of the activity in the court of public opinion. Religion and the church,
as representatives of people, must have played a critical role in obtaining
achievements in the process of social transformation, according to King Jr.168
Religion, for him, was an intrinsic element of society and the ultimate identity of
his discourses.169 For this reason, public meetings that were held in churches
throughout the boycott campaign might be regarded a literal depiction of Martin
Luther King Jr.'s mindset.
Figure 40. Notice to the "Montgomery Public" from "the Negro citizens of
Montgomery" explaining their reasons for the Montgomery bus boycott.
Alabama Digital Collections. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/6470 .
168 Fredrik Sunnemark, Ring out Freedom!: The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making
of the Civil Rights Movement (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004), 63.
169 Ibid., p.75
106
In order to encourage public engagement and draw up a budget, the Montgomery
Development Association (the MIA), which launched the boycott under the
auspices of Martin Luther King, conducted a membership campaign. The
following "Join the 'Fight for Freedom,'" envelope indicated that the potential
members were urged by the purpose of consolidating the Boycott and bolstering
up the MIA, and membership fees spanned from $0.50 for youth to $50.00 for
institutions. The MIA and Dr. King agreed to create initiate a voluntary
movement in that way by taking in consideration of the social scene of the town
and the involvement of ordinary citizens.
Figure 41. Envelope of the Montgomery Improvement Association membership
campaign. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/6403/rec/1 .
On January 16 and 19, 1956, the MIA held several parallel rallies in the city's
churches at the onset of the boycott. The key aim of those same meetings was to
foster the traditional and religious bonds among African Americans in order to
keep the viability of resistance. Those rallies also mirrored the peaceful struggle
and nonviolent resistance that were propagandized by Dr. King, and the meetings
were including hymns that were performed, religious texts that were read.
Likewise, religious leaders addressed, which reinforced the audience's
enthusiasm and devotion. The calls for devotion and activism declared by
religious leaders who became political figures during the Boycott, particularly
Dr. Martin Luther King, created economic and social dilemmas regarding
African Americans. In his book called Stride Toward Freedom; the Montgomery
Story, --which gave facts about harsh living conditions of African Americans of
Alabama,-- Dr. King Jr. pointed out that in Montgomery, 63 % of black women's
107
occupations were as domestic service, and 48 % of black men's jobs were as
workers or domestic servants, and the average wealth of Montgomery in 1950
was $1,730 for the approximately 70,000 WhiteWhite residents, and it was
opposed to $970 for the 50,000 black residents. 170
Figure 42. Program for a mass meeting of the MIA at the Mount Zion A.M.E.
Zion Church. Accessed on 23rd April on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/2021/rec/209 .
The Montgomery Improvement Association continued to hold church sessions to
maintain African Americans' faith and resistance to the boycott. As the above
document indicated, on January 16th of 1956, the MIA organized a massive rally
at the Zion Church. The meeting's opening ceremony was scheduled to be
delivered by Onward, Christian Soldiers. The hymn which encouraged believers
to embrace suffering as the soldier of Jesus had been one of the most well-known
170 Martin Luther King and Clayborne Carson, Stride toward Freedom (Beacon Press, 2010), 14.
108
Protestant anthems of all time.171 It was asserted that the Bible's chapter on
Corinthians glorified love and fraternity as fundamental human values and
implicitly denounced slavery.172 In addition to conveying sentiments of Christian
love and brotherhood, the hymn of Blest Be the Tie was adopted for the closing
ceremony.173 The meeting's theme mirrored the boycott's agenda, which was
built on nonviolence and pacifism. Those sessions, which took place in the city's
African American churches, were led by local ministers, and their programs
often included hymns, sermons, and Bible passages, in addition to speeches by
King, Abernathy, and others, and they were held twice a week, on Mondays and
Thursdays, during the outset of the boycott.174 As a participant, John Robert
Lewis was one of the founder and chairman of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee.175 Uriah J. Fields was the secretary of the MIA, and
John Bonner was one of the members of the executive committee of the
organization as participants.176
171 Randall M. Miller, Harry S. Stout, and Charles Reagan Wilson, Religion and the American
Civil War (New York: Oxford University, 1998), 413.
172 Ibid., 43-44.
173 See Blest be the tie that binds on https://www.loc.gov/item/sm1879.05892/. Accessed Date:
9th August 2022.
174 Gary S. Selby, Martin Luther King and the Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus Narrative in
America's Struggle for Civil Rights (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2008), 75.
175 See Lewis, John on https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/lewis-john. Accessed Date:
9th August 2022.
176 See Minutes of Montgomery Improvement Association Founding Meeting on
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/minutes-montgomery-improvementassociation-
founding-meeting-u-j-fields. Accessed Date: 9th August 2022.
109
Figure 43. Copy of the transcript of State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr., et al,
which was made for Attorney General John Patterson in preparation for an
appeal of the verdict. Accessed on 23rd April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/16043/rec/214 .
Martin Luther King Jr. and others had been accused of violating a state antiboycotting
code in February 1956, during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 177
Furthermore, white officials in Alabama launched two collective efforts to
lawfully eliminate Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement by
convicting King for financial crimes.178 179 The dialogue between the court board
177 Martin Luther King and Susan Carson, The Papers of Martin Luther King, JR, vol. 5
(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007), 371.
178 See State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr. on
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/state-alabama-v-m-l-king-jr-nos-7399-and-9593.
Accessed Date: 9th August 2022.
110
and the witness accounts regarding Dr. King was cited in the above investigation
bulletin. The observer raised his concern on the legal proposals that Dr. King
brought to the agenda to end bus segregation in the report in inquiry, amidst the
jury's harsh tone. Moreover, the jury was teasing out Dr. King's conferences
perpetually. The impartiality of the state institutions in that continuum was
highly questionable. The court case, which ultimately led to Martin Luther King
Jr.'s and his colleagues' guilty verdict, impeded the legal methods of struggle and
prolonged the boycott. The allegations, which were articulated by Attorney
Geneal John Malcolm Patterson180, against King, according to him, were an
effort to humiliate him for the involvement that he had undertaken in the civil
rights campaign.181
Figure 44. Telegram from Sol Diamond, vice president and treasurer of
Diamond Brothers in Trenton, New Jersey, to Judge Eugene W. Carter in
Montgomery, Alabama. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/1944/rec/218 .
179 Martin Luther King and Susan Carson, The Papers of Martin Luther King, JR, vol. 5
(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007), pp.25-26.
180 For detail see Ray Jenkins, “John Patterson, Alabama Governor Who Embodied Southern
Defiance to Civil Rights, Dies at 99,” Washington Post, June 5, 2021,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/john-patterson-dead/2021/06/05/3f0dd79ac642-
11eb-93f5-ee9558eecf4b_story.html. Date of Access: 9th August 2022.
181 Martin Luther King and Susan Carson, The Papers of Martin Luther King, JR, vol. 5
(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007), p. 371
111
The conviction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.182 elevated communal pressure on
Alabama's authorities. The telegram pointed out that upon the jury’s attempt to
convict Martin Luther King Jr. in connection with the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
Diamond Brothers Company183 decided to throw by the plan to locate a home
furnishings production plant in Alabama. It may be argued that such reactions
that came from various layers of society by regarding social inequality and
violations of human rights, which the official institutions were attempting to
uphold through the judiciary, enhanced Dr. King's leadership and reshaped social
dynamics in favor of boycotters. At this point, the people of the city were
experiencing economic sanctions as a result of the rights violations which
levelled off Dr. King. The episode was important because it highlighted that the
boycott impacted both Whites and African Americans profoundly in their daily
lives. For instance, when a group of around 600 protesters deployed nonviolent
resistance to impede transportation and trade during the movement, White
entrepreneurs pursued reconciliation King Jr.184 Although Martin Luther King Jr.
tried to motivate African Americans with the events that he held in churches by
promoting religious values, he was in need of White, secular allies to eliminate
or minimize the official barriers to the boycott, and the telegram could be argued
in that way. Throughout the process, King Jr. emphasized that he would not
182 King Jr. was condemned of engaging in an unlawful boycott of Montgomery City Lines.
Judge Eugene Carter fined King $500 for legal expenses, but the jury suspended and postponed
the penalty. For detail, see Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, Where Do We Go from
Here: Chaos or Community? (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010), 138, and see Testimony in State of
Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr. on https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/kingpapers/
documents/testimony-state-alabama-v-m-l-king-jr. Accessed Date: 9th August 2022.
183 Diamond Brothers Company was one of the leading jewelry manufacturers in the United
States and was established in New Jersey. Despite being located in the North, it endorsed the
boycott that erupted in the South and halted the investments in response to King Jr’s verdict. This
may be significant in comprehending the boycott’s nationwide influence and its expanding
legitimacy in the eyes of Whites. See Donnie Williams, The Thunder of Angels the Montgomery
Bus Boycott and the People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow\CDonnie Williams and Wayne
Greenhaw (Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 2007), 206.
184 Gary S. Selby, Martin Luther King and the Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus Narrative in
America's Struggle for Civil Rights (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2008), 152.
112
tolerate any hatred attitudes toward Whites and that he would preserve the
fraternity at all costs.185
Figure 45. Program for a mass meeting of the MIA at Holt Street Baptist
Church. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/2023/rec/221.
185 Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or
Community? (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010), 168.
113
The MIA once more scheduled a mass rally on September 24, 1956. A remark
was also delivered by Dr. King. However, what made the meeting significant
was, in addition to giving to the boycott committee to the floor, addressing to
voting rights. In 1954, Montgomery County had roughly 30,000 African
Americans who were eligible to vote, but only a little more than 2,000 were
registered. 186 Those meetings transformed the Montgomery Bus Boycott from a
protest for the right to equal transportation to a metaphor of the struggle for the
liberation of African Americans, and t. Through those meetings, Dr. King
underwent a transformation from a position of being solely a religious leadership
to that of a social and political pioneer by having burgeoning popularity. As
Martin Luther King Jr. cited, Montgomery did not have an African Americanowned
radio station or a popular newspaper at the onset of the protest, and these
twice-weekly reunions were vital forms of communication which could lead to a
consensus building in the shade of Christian love among different sects of the
community.187
Following the verdict of the domestic court in favor of African Americans, on
November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled, by holding the 14th Amendment,
that bus segregation in Alabama was unconstitutional. Upon that legal victory,
Dr. King claimed that God had spoken from Washington.188 Dr. King Jr.’s
approach could be evaluated as glorifying merely theological and spiritual
justifications instead of appreciating the legal achievement which was derived
from social uprising. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King
Jr.'s way was tended to focus on mysticism and divine inspiration.
186 I Martin Luther King and Clayborne Carson, Stride toward Freedom (Beacon Press, 2010),
p.17bid, p.16.
187 Martin Luther King and Clayborne Carson, Stride toward Freedom (Beacon Press, 2010),
Ibid, p.72
188 Martin Luther King et al., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other
Preachings (UK: Penguin, 2017), 67.
114
At the dawn of the struggle, Martin Luther King Jr. thought that principles of
Christianity and religious affiliations could lead to common grounds between
African Americans and their White fellow citizens, however he was misguided.
The victory managed to gain legal bearing as a result of passive resistance,
particularly of which was boosted by African Americans and King Jr. himself., It
was not a reflection of common values between African Americans and the
Whites. Dr. King preferred to criticize himself on this matter in an open letter
that he drew up in Birmingham Jail in 1963.189
When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in
Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the
white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of die South
would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright
opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting
its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and
have remained silent behind the anaesthetizing security of stained-glass
windows. 190
189 In April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on charges abusing the protest and march
regulations. He reprimanded White clergy in his letter for neglecting to adequately support the
civil rights movement and the boycott. For detail, see Letter from Birmingham Jail on
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/letter-birmingham-jail. Accessed Date: 9th August
2022.
190 Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (London: Penguin, 2018), 21, 22.
115
Figure 46. Program for the Institute on Non-violence and Social Change, the
annual mass meeting of the Montgomery Improvement Association. Accessed on
23rd April 2022 on
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/6401/rec/222.
The favorable decisions which were called Browder v. Gayle, 191 declared by
local and the supreme court regarding the Montgomery Bus Boycott, gave an
191 Browder v. Gayle was a case that was acknowledged by a three-judge committee of the
Alabama State Court regarding state bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama. By the
decision, segregation on public transportation was declared unlawfully. W. A. Gayle was the
governor of Montgomery at that time, and Aurelia Browder was a civil rights activist of the city.
Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith were the foremost
defendants in the case. Colvin and Smith were previously mentioned. Aurelia Browder and Susie
McDonald were prominent activists during the Civil Rights Movement, and they were also
arrested for violating segregation laws. For detail see Browder v. Gayle on Mary Hull, Rose
Parks Civil Rights Leader (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994), 76, and see Browder v.
116
impetus to the activism of African Americans and the MIA. On November 13,
1956, the US Supreme Court affirmed the local court's decision, and the 381-day
boycott came to an end.192 As the one-year anniversary of the boycott was
approaching, the MIA-sponsored a jubilee event that would reiterate divine love
and its guidance in the pursuit of equality was held. By relying on Rev. King's
intellectual agenda, it became clear, as in previous meetings, that nonviolent
resistance would be a long-term struggle, and it would reshape the future for
African Americans in the way of equal citizenship. In his memories Dr. King
affirmed that the Boycott was the outcome of a long process, and Mrs. Parks'
detention provoked the protest instead of being the origin of it, because the
underlying issue was in a long history of similar inequities, and almost
everybody could remember a tragic situation that he had witnessed or
experienced. 193
Gayle, 352 U.S. 903 on https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/browder-v-gayle-352-us-
903. Date of Access: 9th August 2022.
192 Mary Hull, Rose Parks Civil Rights Leader (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994), p.
77.
193 Martin Luther King and Clayborne Carson, Stride toward Freedom (Beacon Press, 2010), 54.
117
Figure 47. Integrated Bus Suggestions, Inez Jessie Baskin Papers, Alabama
Department of Archives and History. Accessed on 23rd April 2022 on
https://archives.alabama.gov/teacher/rights/lesson1/doc7.html.
Following the Supreme Court's decision to abolish bus segregation, the MIA and
Martin Luther King Jr. released a comprehensive report, titled Integrated Bus
Suggestion. William Powell, the MIA secretary, and King Jr. both signed the
document. Moreover, Rev. Glenn Smiley 194, a White priest, accompanied King Jr. in
crafting the document. 195 The declaration involved full use of words and themes
194 Throughout the boycott, Smiley counseled both King and MIA . He sponsored dozens of
rallies by endorsing nonviolent resistance. For detail, see Smiley, Glenn E.(1910-1993) on
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/smiley-glenn-e. Date of Access. 9th August 2022.
195 Martin Luther King and Clayborne Carson, Stride toward Freedom (Beacon Press, 2010), 157.
118
of goodwill, dignity, friendship, and nonviolence. The document, which was
released on December 19, 1956, tried aspired to guide to African Americans on
how to react in the city's new social order. To avoid generalization, Dr. King
underlined the benevolence of some White Americans regarding the segregation.
The above memorandum, which was an open letter to African Americans,
recommended nonviolent attitudes on the bus ride and confirmed that the
courtroom victory as it stood did belong not only to them, but to all citydwellers.
Nevertheless, the second article in the paper's “specific suggestions”
section uncovered an extremely tragic social phenomenon. Here, it was laid
stress that African Americans should not have sat next to the Whites in case of
other vacant seats. Doctor King's alert clearly manifested the legal limitations on
African Americans' struggle for equality. It was, however, anticipated that legal
victory should not have led to racial strife. Martin Luther King Jr. remarked that
he requested White clergy’s cooperation in the peaceful implementation of
integrated buses in order to foster Christian brotherhood, but many of them
rejected it.196 Dr. King Jr.'s and the MIA's prudent disposition shaped the overall
tone of the action in that way. It can be contended that, although the
Montgomery Bus Boycott crowned African Americans' struggle for equality and
freedom, it also tamed them due to socioeconomic troubles and the glorification
of passive resistance by Rev. Martin Luther King, who intended to become a
political figure, --and temporarily halted the accomplishment of judicial
improvements.
4.3. The Boycott in the Newspapers: The Example of Arizona Sun and
Evening Star (Washington Star)
Newspapers have been crucial primary sources for analyzing historical events
and facts. The headlines, illustrations, and numerous articles that have been
published in newspapers could provide vital insights about a society's mentality
and the authorities' approaches at the time of the event itself. Furthermore, a
196 Ibid., p.159.
119
comparative analysis of the newspapers might make it simple to convey an
unbiased view of the event. The analysis of newspapers as a scientific research
and evaluation method has also been critical in order to reflect the opinions of
historical characters who have made the history itself. However, considering
newspaper coverage was published by humans, it could generate objectivity
challenges if reporters were biased by specific political and social agendas or
sentiments. As a result, other first-hand and second-hand materials regarding the
people and organizations were mentioned in the daily stories were utilized in this
study. The advancement of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was rooted on
long-term scheduling and citizen involvement, highlighted the significance of
analyzing the actual publications from that timespan. In this respect, the online
archive of the Library of Congress has been furnishing a consequential database.
The two newspapers from different states have been selected to cover the
consequences and general framework of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on
nationwide. Secondly, it has been argued that the two newspapers in question
might offer varying perspectives in the matter of the Boycott. Yet again, it has
been deemed that there is too much content about either of these two newspapers
on the online database of Chronicling America of Library of Congress. For this
reason, this section aims to focus on evaluating the newspapers which was
called, the Arizona Sun and the Evening Star by for the purpose of scrutinizing
the Boycott by benefitting from the database. Almost all related pages of these
two newspapers have been perused, and ninety issues which give reference to the
Boycott are brought out and studied at length.
The Arizona Sun, which was begun publication in the early 1940s, intended to
shed light on the issues that African Americans dealt with in their daily lives.
The newspaper had marked considerable local and national publications while
regarding social, economic, and political agendas of African Americans. Doc
Benson, who was one of the newspaper’s editors, was also the chairman of the
Arizona Branch of the NAACP and ran for the election in the Democratic Party
list in 1950. On the other side, the Evening Star (Washington Star), which was
created established by William Douglas Wallach, who was a surveyor and
120
entrepreneur, was initially issued in the mid-19th century and published until the
early 1970s and had a more conservative standpoint. The Evening Star, a
newspaper published in the northern United States, might be remarkable in its
assessment in a thesis engaging with a Southern city, Montgomery by the
purpose of comprehending the national impact and the reflection of Martin
Luther King Jr.’role during the Civil Rights Movement in the eyes of public
opinion. Haynes Johnson (1931-2013),197 one of the newspaper's outstanding
reporters, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for his
exceptional coverage of the Civil Rights Movement in 1966.198 Besides, in
Alabama on March 8, 1965, Johnson interviewed with Martin Luther King Jr.,
who emphasized that the struggle for African Americans' freedom would
continue despite harassment and inhumane treatment.199 In this regard, a
comparison and analysis of an African American newspaper and another
newspaper, with a more conservative, which covered noteworthy and awarded
news viewpoint might deliver a pivotal approach in order to comprehend the
collective resonances and conflict zones of boycott, passive- nonviolent
resistance, which were the hallmarks of the Civil Rights Movement.
The scope of this section was determined by reviewing the online archive of the
Library of Congress. While researching related pages on the online archive,
following 10 words and phrases were opted for attaining target materials:
197 Mr. Johnson's coverage of national issues in general, and of the capital in specifically, was
widely praised over his 40 years in journalism. On July 26, 1965, he published a special report
titled "Selma Revisited," which was released in The Evening Star. Mr. Johnson documented the
concerns that had emerged among the city's African Americans as they found that their goals of
equal opportunity, accommodation, and education were proving more difficult to accomplish
than they had envisioned. For detail, see Margalit Fox, “Haynes Johnson, Journalist and Author,
Is Dead at 81,” The Washington Post, May 24, 2013,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/07/24/in-search-of-blackprogress/
09310ff2-b558-43f9-9cd5-ad05bbfa8fda/. Date of Access: 11th August 2022.
198 See Haynes Johnson of Washington Evening Star on
https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/haynes-johnson.
199 See Cross That Alabama River Again : Haynes Johnson's Selma Reportage on
https://www.pulitzer.org/news/cross-alabama-river-again-haynes-johnsons-selma-reportage.
Accessed Date: 11th August 2022.
121
“Montgomery Bus Boycott”, “boycott”, “Rosa Parks”, “Martin Luther King Jr.”,
“the NAACP”, “the MIA”, “segregation”, “transportation”, “Alabama”,
“Montgomery”, and totally 20 newspaper clippings were specified as primary
sources by the purpose of interpreting the era
4.3.1. Arizona Sun
Figure 48. “Jim Crow Bus Boycott Hits Co. Pocketbook”, Arizona Sun, page 4,
January 20, 1956
“Jim Crow Bus Boycott Hits Co. Pocketbook” was published in 4th page of
Arizona Sun on January 20, 1956. Henry Gitano, who also contributed for the
socialist-leaning journal The Militant200, penned this article. The whole financial
200 The Militant was a socialist journal that first published in 1928. The American Socialist
Workers Party and the newspaper have been closely related. For detail, see About the Militant
Newspaper on https://themilitant.com/about/. Date of Access: 11th August 2022.
122
power of the boycott was underscored in the story. It was the article's most
notable point that the Montgomery White Citizens' Council urged the riding of
buses after the boycott decision by issuing newspaper advertisements. This
development might reveal that White Americans, especially well-organized ones,
did not embrace African Americans' civic goals and aspirations for the city. It
was stressed, nonetheless, that the initiative was fruitless. According to the news,
the boycott was 90 to 95% successful, and there were 75% of African Americans
among Montgomery's bus drivers. The story also discussed how African
Americans developed a transportation system using their own capabilities.
Figure 49. “Alabama “Prayer-Pilgrimage” Held by Negroes as Protest”, Arizona
Sun, page 1, February 24, 1956
According to the story, the religious leaders of Montgomery, called Ralph David
Abernathy (1926-1990)201 were detained and fined $300 for their remarks that
201 Abernathy was considered to by Martin Luther King Jr. as a good friend, and he truly stood by
King Jr. during judicial proceedings. For detail see, Martin Luther King and Clayborne Carson,
Stride toward Freedom (Beacon Press, 2010), 97 and 120.
123
endorsed the boycott. Additionally, it was revealed that the authorities had
charged the boycotters with a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. The NAACP,
which was one of the three main boycott entities along with the church and the
MIA, had been charged with escalating racial tensions in the city. It was
acknowledged that the clipping was important that the authorities regularly
turned to economic legal consequences or sanctions to suppress the boycott and
organized opposition and to discredit the organized passive resistance.
Abernathy had played an active role in MIA and NACCP programs. In actuality, it was his idea
to initiate the MIA. For detail, see Abernathy, Ralph David on
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/abernathy-ralph-david. Date of Access: 11th
August 2022.
124
Figure 50. “Goodwill Group Spreads Whispering-Prayer Campaign”, Arizona
Sun, March 1,1956
The story outlined the non-governmental organization “The La Cheerios” and its
campaign to lessen racial strife in Montgomery. The organization had adapted
125
into a voluntary institution that served both White and African Americans. The
clipping indicated that the La Cheerios’ slogan was "Just Spreading Cheer Every
Day of the Year," and it has proclaimed itself the first "Whispering Prayer
Campaign" in the cause of humankind by sending thousands of Cheer Cards,
Booklets, and Cheer Literature to organizations throughout the year. This
organization had many thousand members. Indeed, the event might have
demonstrated that the boycott had a potential to generate distinct social behavior
patterns or traditions. As a result, passive resistance had become more visible in
the eyes of society. Again, it was grasped that religious discourse had evolved
into a legitimate unifying factor. To encourage society through religious rhetoric,
the association also showcased an act of violence that was initiated by white
people in city school following the boycott. In this context, it was interpreted that
the boycott went up beyond the right to transportation and spread to other public
places.
126
Figure 51. “Open Letter to Civil Rights Assembly in Washington”, Arizona Sun,
page 4, March 15, 1956
On March 15, 1956, the Arizona Sun posted an open letter on the page four,
titled Open Letter to Civil Rights Assembly in Washington”. Some suggestions
were offered in the letter to the Civil Rights Assembly, which would meet in
Washington D.C. It was stated in the letter, which criticized white political
officials harshly, that federal and local authorities were trying to blame African
Americans of militancy during the social attempts like the Boycott. It was
emphasized that neither the Democratic nor Republican Parties were courageous
127
or resilient on the legal solutions for embracing civil rights, and the assembly
was called for national organization to carry out legal actions and to boost
resistances like the boycott. The letter might provide critical insights into the role
of democratic participation and the legislative process in the passive resistance
phase. Furthermore, the fact that the Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of the
main policy goals of a conference that was held in the country's capital might
have proved the political and social force of the resistance.
Figure 52. “Need $3,000 A Week to Help in Carpool Protest Movement”,
Arizona Sun, March 29, 1956
The following story reported that Farrell Dobbs, who was presidential candidate
of the Socialist Workers Party, called for financial support to keep going the bus
boycott. The media coverage, which clarified the political implications of the bus
128
boycott, emphasized the value of economic cooperation in coping with
authorities' measures and hindering for the sake of boycott's extension.
Furthermore, it was asserted that the boycott would take a stronger and more
result-oriented form, not only with philosophies but also with some productive
assets. The appeal became a significant contribution and aid for the continuation
of their actions for African Americans who were currently struggling
economically at that time.
Figure 53. Arizona Sun, April 5, 1956
The emotional and reactionary rhetoric of the newspaper brings attention in the
story, as it did in the previous ones. The audience's response to the court that
found guilty Dr. King for allegedly violating the law by leading the boycott was
129
as following: “I walk from now on, if my feet give out, I will crawl.” As it was
seen, judicial proceedings were the most significant lawful obstacle to African
Americans in that phase. According to the story, racial discrimination was
keeping at court hall, and Whites were sitting separately. It was significant in
terms of illustrating interest of public. It was noted that several White Americans
followed Dr. King's trial. Despite the city's white authorities' attempts to prevent
the boycott, white citizens' curiosity about the protest leader might have been
thought-provoking.
Figure 54. “Rev. M. L. King Loses Case in Alabama”, Arizona Sun, page 1,
May 31, 1956
According the to the story, the domestic court decided to exploit the judicial
process to crush the boycott's momentum by punishing the leadership. Even
though the boycotters were subjected to the practical penalties that were
converted into fines by the judicial process, the passive resistance were
maintained. It was disputed that the court did not issue fair, however, everything
was carried out in accordance with legal requirements. It was likely that the
judicial, the most fundamental power in modern democracies, was forced to
make these decisions by bracing up reluctance and retardation of the legislative
and executive powers.
130
Figure 55. “Chicago and Detroit Aid Montgomery Carpool”, Arizona Sun, May
24, 1956
The above story might indicate how the Montgomery Bus Boycott had received
national recognition and attention and its ability to inspire ordinary folks. The
MIA which was persisting transportation mobilization to uphold the survival of
the Boycott could receive cash and car aid from Chicago in which the boycott
led to formation of a non-governmental organization called the Chicago Station
Wagons to Montgomery Committee. The story also reiterated that the funding
was being voluntarily collected. The report might illustrate once again that
nonviolent and passive resistance could be the prevailing factor that crystallized
civic engagement. The participants' involvement in the Socialist presidential
candidate was confirmed here. It was presidential campaign season in the United
States in 1956, and whether the Socialist politicians' participation in the boycott
was pragmatic was arguable.
131
Figure 56. “NAACP Convention Sidetracks Boycott Issue”, Arizona Sun, page
3, July 19, 1956
On July 19, 1956, Arizona Sun publicly denounced the NAACP, which was
holding its annual convention in San Francisco. The NAACP, according to the
newspaper, intended to fight for equality only in courtrooms. The newspaper also
rebuked the judicial procedures for being tardily and inadequate and alleged that
the NAACP convention overlooked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In his
keynote speech, Dr. King said that the story of Montgomery was the story of
50,000 black people who were sick of racial injustice and were willing to relieve
tiredness for weary souls. The newspaper distinguished Dr. King as the
convention's unofficial pioneer by asserting that the NAACP was reluctant to
offer an official endorsement to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As previously
stated, the NAACP favored the credibility of judicial proceedings by underrating
132
the elements of the boycott during the movement. Rev. King and the MIA, on the
other hand, preferred to expand the widespread resistance in action, as he stated
in his speech at the convention. The case could embody a sort of antagonism
between civic organizations of African Americans.
Figure 57. “Supreme Court Kills Jim Crow on Southern Buses”, Arizona Sun,
November 22, 1956
The story on November 22, 1956, alerted readers that the Supreme Court had
confirmed its previous decision and proclaimed the Jim Crow Laws on public
transportation as unconstitutional. By referring to the Plessy v. Ferguson case
that resolved and defined the doctrine of separate but equal in 1896, the
newspaper underlined that segregation in public transportation was finally
133
abolished. From this viewpoint, it was abundantly obvious that the Montgomery
Bus Boycott was an outstanding impulse behind the nullifying of judicially
engaged official racism that had been on the carper for nearly five decades. The
considerable distinction between the domestic court and the Supreme Court was
also worth mentioning. In some ways, a conflict between legitimacy and legality
had erupted. It should be remarked at this point that the Supreme Court did not
achieve a unanimous verdict. The story also indicated that both domestic courts
and local authorities in some cities were stolid in relation to federal decisions.
The phenomenon illustrated how dubious the NAACP's urgency for court rooms
and legal procedures was. Dr. King's stance that gave priority to mass
mobilization, on the other hand, was proven to be accurate.
4.3.2. Evening Star (Washington Star)
Figure 58. “Negro Minister’s Home in Alabama Bombed”, Evening Star, page
A-9, January 31, 1956
As the boycott approached its second month, the first atrocity deliberately
targeted Martin Luther King Jr., and his residence was burnt down, the story
remarked. When the news' subtext was perused, it was evident that Dr. King Jr.
dared to appease his followers through manipulating religious quotes. He said
134
that whoever lives by the sword will die by the sword by citing the Bible in his
statement. It was obvious that King Jr.'s religious liability and social leadership
were closely intertwined. In this sense, one could argue that the Montgomery
Bus Boycott for equal citizenship did lack secular norms. Besides, King Jr.
claimed that the major brushed aside the event, thereby challenged the political
authority in front of the public opinion.
Figure 59. “Negro Lawyer Indicted in Montgomery Boycott”, Evening Star,
page A-21, February 19, 1956
Not only leaders and civilians like King Jr. or Mrs. Parks were subjected to
intimidation tactics during the boycott movement, but also lawyers. For instance,
25-year-old Fred Gray was accused of misconduct and alleged document fraud.
According to the news, the incident, which was brought on by a plaintiff's wild
claims, could reveal that there were concerns about legitimacy of the procedure
roughly. The clichés and catchwords were not included in the story, unlike
Arizona Sun. It could be maintained that a more rational and balanced news style
was favored in this regard. On the other hand, the plaintiff, who was alleged of
135
modifying her assertion, had not been contacted for confirmation, and the news
had not been accomplished. The scenario inevitably led to speculation in the
minds of the public about the lawyer, who was a civil rights activist.
Figure 60. “Negroes in Alabama City Refuse to End Bus Boycott”, Evening
Star, page A-5, February 21, 1956
The boycotters reiterated that they would pursue their struggle despite the city
authorities' pleas for mutual understanding, the story conveyed. To halt the
boycott, authorities recommended some modifications, prescribing ten seats for
white passengers in the front and ten seats for black passengers in the back, to
bus seating arrangements. Although it was hold on the agenda with the intention
of fostering reconciliation, the proposal could be seen as an expression of the
136
city's white officials' disdain for African Americans. It could be possible to argue
that the envisaged political solution was a form of psychological warfare against
the boycotters rather than any coexistence in social life. Again, the boycotters'
dismissal of the authorities' reconciliation proposal at a meeting that involved
approximately 4.000 people would indicate an increase in civic engagement and
democratic capabilities among African Americans. The situation could be
considered as a way of boycotters to avoid potential conflicts of legitimacy.
Moreover, it might be argued that the passive resistance that was inspired by Dr.
King was becoming progressively dominant by virtue of such democratic
decision-making mechanisms. The notable piece of news was that after the
boycott emerged, the city's transportation fee was raised from 10 cents to 15
cents. The outcome could display how African Americans retained economic
impact over public services.
Figure 61. “Text of Negro Bishops’ Resolution on Boycott”, Evening Star, page
A-3, February 26, 1956
By granting a statement at the end of February, the African Methodist Episcopal
Council publicly endorsed the Montgomery Bus Boycott. While reiterating the
virtues of Christianity, the bishops complained about the deterioration of
137
constitutional freedom of speech. The statement carried out an invitation for
national reconciliation between Whites and African Americans by avoiding
stigmatizing discourse. This statement, which appealed to the authorities and
potential allies for a peaceful solution, was truly similar to Rev. King’s agenda.
As previously stated, the instrumental and informing way of African American
churches, which were transformed into a social and political stratum during the
boycott, could be behold in the news. The fact that churches did not remain
apathetic to the boycott, and it could demonstrate the inclusive nature of
Christianity, notably among African Americans. However, the statement also
revealed how Christianity was being exploited to fulfill reconciliation between
White and African Americans. The newspaper delivered Dr. King's appeal
against violence in addition to capturing the major row in perspective that
emerged among African Americans to the readers. Once more, an unbiased
stance of the newspaper became visible.
138
Figure 62. “Church Groups Protest Negro Ministers’ Arrest”, Evening Star, page
A-10, February 28, 1956
The above news might be worth considering from two aspects. First, the
judiciary opted for increasing burden on the pastors who led to the boycott, and
twenty-four of them were arrested in the city. The pattern implied that political
and social dominance of the church was intensifying day by day. Thus,
Christianity was kicked about as an instrument of political agitation and
preservation hectically. Secondly, Joseph H. Jackson, who represented rough five
million African American Baptists, was opposed mass prayer to protest the
detention of his colleagues and profiting by religion in favor of the Boycott, as
the news indicated.
139
Despite massive detention and legal trouble, African Americans maintained their
persistent in the boycott, the following news heralded from the church rally.
Although the city's only bus company, called Montgomery City Lines, declared
renouncing segregation, it could be noteworthy that the authorities did not
reconsider their decisions. Although the bus company may have prioritized
economic profits because of the decline in income, the city's political authorities
would be unable to eliminate political concerns.
Figure 63. “Negroes Extend Bus Boycott”, Evening Star, page A-16, April 27,
1956
140
Figure 64. “NAACP Outlawed by Alabama Court as Boycott Backer”, Evening
Star, page A-23, June 1, 1956
The NAACP, which upheld the legal struggle during the boycott and dissented
the MIA in this context, was blacklisted in the city by a court verdict, according
to the newspaper. It might be meaningful. On the contrary, Arizona Sun had
ridiculed the organization, which was outlawed on the grounds that it impeded
city order and stability by violating the law. Predictably, provincial and federal
the NAACP officials publicly declared that they would obey the court order a
day later, as following news indicated. Even, the NAACP's general secretary,
Roy Wilkins, publicly stated that they did not commence the Montgomery Bus
Boycott by remarking their appreciation for the laws. According to this two
news, the NAACP did not take a prominent role during the bus boycott. Besides
141
that, the NAACP's abstentions from the mass mobilization in the streets were
highly questionable when compared to churches and the MIA. Despite this, it
had been the target of some official threats, because it was a massive
organization that had evolved into a focal point for African Americans in terms
of ensuring civic achievements.
Figure 65. “NAACP Ready to Abide by Alabama Injunction”, Evening Star,
page A-2, June 2, 1956
Local authorities and the federal court were still at odds over bus segregation in
Montgomery, as following news pointed out. The news, which centered upon the
142
ambiguity and turmoil in the judicial proceedings, disclosed Rev. King Jr.'s
statement as the head of the MIA. King Jr. clarified that MIA delegates and
African American citizens of Montgomery would struggle to wrap up bus
segregation until a final verdict was released. In comparison to previous news,
the MIA and the NAACP had a distinct approach and comprehension of civil
politics on the boycott.
Figure 66. “Bus Segregation Forces Have 9 Days to Appeal” Evening Star, page
B-21, June 20, 1956
Fred Gray, who was a young lawyer for the boycotters and had previously been
subjected to various challenges and bullying tactics, was enlisted into the army
while he was trying to cope with legal obstacles, as the following news pointed
out. Additionally, it was stated that after his enlistment in the army, only one
African American lawyer would reside in Montgomery. In this regard, the
truthfulness and humility of the boycott judgements was questionable, too. The
143
story could be regarded as another manifestation of the executive power's
manipulative pressure on the judicial power during the boycott.
Figure 67. “Boycott Lawyer Gets Draft Call”, Evening Star, page A-20, August
7, 1956
144
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
In the United States, where multiculturalism and the multi-ethnic social structure
remained, there was a mass movement of African Americans that demanded
equal citizenship, especially in the second half of the 20th century. The legacy of
World War II was clearly having an impact on American society. Critical social
events took place in the United States throughout the postwar period, resulting in
significant changes in the country. In this regard, the 1950s and the first half of
the 1960s were years of anxiety, optimism, and change, particularly in the social
realm. According to David R. Farber and Beth L. Bailey, the United States was
the most prosperous and influential nation in the world in 1960, with 180 million
people, and the nation had seen tremendous upheavals in the 15 years since
World War II 202. Local policies were involved substantially during those years,
for example, the Civil Rights Movements redefined that politics were not only
constituted of the authority and norms enforced by the state, but also of social
and cultural dynamics that pervaded those days and the fate of the state. Another
crucial feature was that the Civil Rights Movement heralded a social awakening
among the people by emphasizing fundamental concepts such as freedom and
equality in virtually all spheres. Hence, the years in question may be relevant for
analyzing popular opposition and alienation by rebelling against the state. It
might be argued that the United States experienced conflict as a result of a
collision between founding principles and de facto circumstances. The Civil
Rights Movement was an attempt to make the country's founding ideals valid
across the nation. Segregation and isolation which were implemented by the
social system and government afflicted African Americans in particular, and the
Civil Rights Movement had a key impact on the development American society
202 David Farber and Beth Bailey, The Columbia Guide to America in the 1960s (New York:
Columbia University Press, 2011), p.3
145
by laying the groundwork for the crystallization of equality and freedom. The
movement could be regarded as an antidote that wiped out racism and
humiliation in the United States, especially symbolically but also mentally. Both
arguments and affirmations associated with the civil rights movement centered
on social and economic inequality, and demand for equality became even more
established and entrenched in daily life. The inequality that was experienced by
African Americans in public spheres such as education, public transportation,
and political participation compared to the majority population, white
Americans, is an important challenge in the history of the United States to
examine.203 Martin Luther King Jr.'s concepts of beloved community and
nonviolent resistance are discussed in this thesis, which analyses the American
Civil Rights Movement, one of the most prominent movements of the twentieth
century, by centering on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. One of the prominent
components of the struggle of African Americans for equal citizenship, the
boycott led to the expansion of the Civil Rights Movement in a legitimate
area.204 When African Americans campaigned for freedom and equality, King
Jr. was undeniably a prominent and compelling figure who expressed the
oppressed people's aspirations and objectives. According to Ralph H. Hines and
James E. Pierce, King's charisma initially became obvious during the
Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955), and his commitment to endure strong personal
ordeals in the pursuit of equality for the African American community enhanced
203 For Martin Luther King Jr., the fundamental disagreement was not about buses. However, he
truly thought that if the tactic they had used in having dealt with equality in buses could
completely eradicate oppression within the society, he would be attacking the origin of injustice,
a person's resentment of a person. This can only be managed to accomplish by questioning the
white community to reconsider its assertions. See Martin Luther King et al., A Gift of Love:
Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings (UK: Penguin, 2017), p.16.
204 Martin Luther King Jr. also noted that the boycott was prompted by the African Americans’
true self and the virtues that were defined by the Supreme Court through its 1954 ruling in Brown
v. Board of Education. See Fredrik Sunnemark, Ring out Freedom! The Voice of Martin Luther
King, Jr. and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2004), p. 18.
146
his mission.205 As previously stated, Rosa Parks' personal circumstances boosted
the legitimacy of the boycott in this context. Mrs. Parks was a delightful, delicate
and tranquil individual with a sparkling personality on all occasions,
additionally, her morality was spotless, and her commitment was persistent, and
those traits merged to make her one of the most respected persons in the African
American society. Parks' confident manner culminated in the demise of racial
segregation. Besides, the boycott's long-term, non-violent, and peaceful
discourse and agenda were epitomized by Martin Luther King Jr. As a result of
his involvement in the bus boycott, King Jr. became the natural leader of the
American Civil Rights Movement. In this perspective, King Jr.'s appreciation of
organized and integrated society is an issue to reconsider. The role that both the
NAACP and MIA played in developing the boycott formed a unifying pillar for
African Americans. The NAACP championed families and children who were
subjugated to racial segregation in public and educational venues, and they were
prepared to face social exclusion in order to achieve their goals.206 This
organization's activities and policies were as effective as the MIA in carrying the
boycott into daily life, and the struggle for survival among African Americans
became widely known. The NAACP enhanced its national promotion apparatus
and media accounts to portray Montgomery's African American citizens’ strong
endeavors to overcome the government and private elements defending
segregated buses, and the slogan of the NAACP's initiatives was an appeal for
funds to pay for the campaign's legal expenses.207 Besides, under the leadership
of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
was constituted by African American clerics and civic leaders, and the MIA was
205 Ralph H. Hines and James E. Pierce, “Negro Leadership after the Social Crisis: An Analysis
of Leadership Changes in Montgomery, Alabama”, Phylon (1960-), Vol. 26, No. 2, (2nd Qtr.,
1965), p.169
206 Jim Cullen, The American Dream, A Short History of an Idea Shaped a Nation (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 118.
207 Gilbert Jonas, Freedom's Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle against Racism in America,
1909-1969 (London: Routledge, 2007), 103.
147
instrumental in guiding the Montgomery bus boycott, which was a massive
campaign that centered public attention on racial segregation in the South and
propelled King Jr. into the public spotlight.208 The MIA developed a framework
for the local community that deepened the boycott process and gave hints to
African Americans' long-term struggle capabilities. Martin Luther King Jr. stated
that he would never forget Montgomery, because how could one neglect a bunch
of participants who did take their enthusiastic urges and profound expectations,
purified them through their souls, and molded them into an innovative protest
that gave significance for those and captivated humans all over the nation and the
world.209 Due to Martin Luther King Jr.'s discourse and MIA's voluntary
blueprint, the campaign had evolved into a nonviolent mass movement. Despite
being long-term planning, the concepts of beloved community and nonviolent
resistance managed to shield the Montgomery Bus Boycott from potential risks
such as widespread racial clashes. Nonviolent Resistance and the Beloved
Community as advocated by Martin Luther King Jr., sought to reconcile the
realities of opposites, passivity and force, while shunning the extremities and
moral failings of both.210 Nonviolent resistance and the beloved community,
which became the cornerstones of African Americans' campaign for equal
citizenship, were the pillars behind the boycott's widespread adoption. According
to Martin Luther King Jr., at the core of nonviolent resistance, it laid the notion
of love, and a peaceful resister would maintain that for human dignity,
disadvantaged people across the world must avoid the urge to become nasty or
embark in backlashes in the campaign.211 In the light of this, nonviolent
208 See Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) on
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/montgomery-improvement-association-mia.
Accessed Date: 9th August 2022.
209 Martin Luther King, Clayborne Carson, and Susan Carson, The Papers of Martin Luther King,
JR, vol. 5 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007), 359.
210 Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom (Boston: Beacon Press, 1958), pp. 88,89.
211 Martin Luther King et al., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other
Preachings (UK: Penguin, 2017), 17.
148
resistance and beloved community were not confined to the boycott process,
but rather embodied legitimate methods of struggle in recent U.S. history
through fostering social integration. The Beloved Community also characterized
a community in which everyone was pleasant, and no one was treated unfairly,
and economic and social justice were the backbones that endorsed the concept.
In this sense, it should be acknowledged that the Montgomery Bus Boycott, as
one of the most considerable and lengthiest social resistance movements of the
20th century, did play a dovish and cohesive, rather than separatist, role
respectively African Americans and White Americans. Subsequently, the bus
boycott had been remarkable in mobilizing a substantial chunk of the African
American community on a national scale and sparking a highly public struggle
with local versions of Jim Crow.212 The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which served
as the core of the Civil Rights Movement, could be studied in this context
through newspapers as primary sources. Analyzing the Arizona Sun, one of the
South's most popular newspapers, and the Evening Star, which received attention
due to their Civil Rights Movement coverage, culminated in a comprehensive
and comparative analysis of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The newspaper
clippings that were presented could be a historical documentation of the bus
boycott's social, political, and economic roots and outcomes. Moreover, those
newspaper coverage generated details on African Americans' attitudes and
activities throughout the boycott, as well as highlighted the practice of Martin
Luther King Jr.'s leadership and the principles of struggle, namely the beloved
community and the nonviolent resistance, that he championed. Focusing on two
newspapers that had distinct leanings, could indicate an analytical storyline
approach in documenting the complex sociocultural transformation that the
boycott embodied, rather than confining the learning experience to merely
second-hand sources. Furthermore, it was intended to carry out subtext reading
through newspapers in order to visualize the dynamics of the boycott in order to
grasp the echoes of the historical context in daily life. As a forerunner of the
American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr.'s main routes of the
212 Gilbert Jonas, Freedom's Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle against Racism in America,
1909-1969 (London: Routledge, 2007), 171.
149
challenge, the Beloved Community and Nonviolent Resistance, led to a
significant collective action to alleviate racism and discrimination, and the
struggle of African Americans for the sake of equality took on a widespread
characteristic, and formed the boycott as a way of achieving equal rights.
Nevertheless, Martin Luther King's leadership perspectives and struggle
conceptions in the Montgomery Bus Boycott mirrored African Americans'
yearning to be respectable citizens in the eyes of executive authority. For this
reason, The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which succeeded in a legislative triumph
after a collective effort, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s concepts which
championed civil disobedience may offer a comprehensive research area for
African Americans' civil rights to unfold the social dynamics of recent American
history, especially in light of the current police brutality and racist discourse
targeting African Americans in recent years.
150
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Official Documents, Photographs, Pictures, Posters, Reports & Speeches
“African-American Demonstrators Outside the White House,” Library of
Congress, 12 March 1964, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primarysource-
sets/right-to-vote-suffrage-women-african/african-american.
“At the bus station in Durham, North Carolina. Delano,” Library of Congress,
1940, accessed 23rd April 2021. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017747598/.
“Civil Rights Act of 1964,” National Archives, 2 July 1964, accessed 23rd April
2021. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act.
“Civil rights march on Washington, D.C.,” Library of Congress, 28 August 1963,
accessed 23rd April 2021.https://www.loc.gov/item/2003654393/.
"Come, let us take counsel together," Library of Congress, 1944, accessed 23rd
April 2021. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010648420/.
“Communist training school,” Stanford University the Martin Luther King,
Research and Education Institute, 1965, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/communism.
“Copy of the transcript of State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr., et al, which was
made for Attorney General John Patterson in preparation for an appeal of
the verdict,” Alabama Textual Materials Collection, March 1956,
accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/16043/rec
/214.
151
“Document for July 26th: Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed
Forces.” Accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?doddate=
726.
“During the 1950's America came out of a victorious war and a depression and
entered the golden age,” Baruch College, n.d., accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1005spring2011/tag/golden-age/.
“During the boycott, many buses on the road had few passengers,” UC Berkeley,
1956, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/02/11/podcast-montgomery-bus-boycottwomens-
political-council/.
“Envelope of the Montgomery Improvement Association membership
campaign,” Alabama Textual Materials Collection, n.d., accessed 23rd
April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/6403/rec/
1.
“Executive Order 9279.” Accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-9279-
providing-for-the-most-effective-mobilization-and-utilization-the.
“Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Accessed July 22, 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10125-
10133.pdf.
“Illustration of bus where Rosa Parks sat,” National Archives, 1 December 1955,
accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks.
“Integrated Bus Suggestions,” Alabama Textual Materials Collection, 19
December 1956, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://archives.alabama.gov/teacher/rights/lesson1/doc7.html.
152
“King, Martin Luther,” Papers of John F. Kennedy, 28 February 1961, accessed
23rd April 2021.https://www.jfklibrary.org/assetviewer/
archives/JFKWHCNF/1478/JFKWHCNF-1478-
015?image_identifier=JFKWHCNF-1478-015-p0001.
“Marchers with signs at the March on Washington,” Library of Congress, 28
August 1963, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.37229/.
“Martin Luther King, Southern Christian Leadership Conference Headquarters,
Atlanta, Georgia,” National Gallery of Art, February 1968, accessed 23rd
April 2021.
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.194796.html.
“Members of the “Washington Freedom Riders Committee,” en route to
Washington, D.C., hang signs from bus windows to protest segregation,”
Library of Congress, 1961, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civilrights/exhibit.html.
“MLK to LKG,” The Harvard Law School Library, 24 April 1962, accessed 23rd
April 2021. https://etseq.law.harvard.edu/2013/01/852-rare-a-letter-frommartin-
luther-king-jr/dscf1359/.
“Montgomery Fair date book,” Library of Congress, 1955, 1956, accessed 23rd
April 2022. https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-ownwords/
about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/carpool-notebook/.
“NAACP Atlantic City Branch flyer advertising a lecture by Rosa Parks,”
Library of Congress, 16 November 1956, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-thisexhibition/
the-bus-boycott/naacp-v-alabama-1958/.
“Notice to the "Montgomery Public" from "the Negro citizens of Montgomery,”
Alabama Textual Materials Collection, 25 December 1955, accessed 23rd
April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/6470.
153
“One Man, One Vote” signs & watchful police,” Library of Congress, 17-18
March 1965, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/03/marching-in-montgomery-1965-
reconsidered/.
“Parents and students heading from Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's office in Midtown
to City Hall during a pro-integration boycott that kept over a third of the
city's roughly one million students out of school,” New York Times, 3
February 1964, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/nyregion/school-segregation-newyork.
html.
“Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).” Accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/plessy-v-ferguson.
“Plessy vs. Ferguson,” National Archives, 18 May 1896, accessed 1st July 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/plessy-v-ferguson.
“Police Report,” National Archives, 1 December 1955, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks.
“Program for a mass meeting of the MIA at Holt Street Baptist Church,”
Alabama Textual Materials Collection, 24 September 1956, accessed 23rd
April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/2023/rec/
221.
“Program for a mass meeting of the MIA at the Mount Zion A.M.E. Zion
Church,” Alabama Textual Materials Collection, 16 January 1956,
accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/2021/rec/
209.
“Program for the Institute on Non-violence and Social Change, the annual mass
meeting of the Montgomery Improvement Association,” Alabama
Textual Materials Collection, 3-9 December 1956, accessed 23rd April
2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/6401/rec/
222.
154
“Raymond and Rosa Parks’ 1955 Income Tax Return,” Library of Congress,
1955, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-thisexhibition/
the-bus-boycott/1955-income-tax-return/.
“Remembering Martin Luther King's Speech at Columbia,” Columbia University
African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, 27 October
1961, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://afamstudies.columbia.edu/news/remembering-martin-luther-kingsspeech-
columbia.
“Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. at mass meeting in local church,”
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture,
1955-1956, accessed 23rd April 2022. https://www.si.edu/object/rosaparks-
and-martin-luther-king-jr:npg_NPG.2009.4.
“Rosa Parks Papers: Events, 1951-2005,” Library of Congress, 23 September
1956, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss85943.001906/?sp=2&r=-
0.66,0.005,2.321,1.134,0.
“Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph Abernathy, Ebenezer Baptist
Church During Bus Boycott,” Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture, 1955, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://www.si.edu/object/rosa-parks-martin-luther-king-jr-and-ralphabernathy-
ebenezer-baptist-church-during-busboycott:
nmaahc_2011.49.11.
“School Segregation Banned,” National Archives, 17 May 1954, accessed 23rd
April 2021.
“SNCC Poster,” National Park Service, 1963, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/civil-rights-movement-archive.htm.
“Telegram from Sol Diamond, vice president and treasurer of Diamond Brothers
in Trenton, New Jersey, to Judge Eugene W. Carter in Montgomery,
Alabama,” Alabama Textual Materials Collection, 26 March 1956,
accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/1944/rec/
218.
155
“Telegram sent by Martin Luther King Jr. when asked to endorse John F.
Kennedy or Richard M. Nixon in the presidential election,” California
Digital Archives, 7 November 1960, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://archives.cdn.sos.ca.gov/images/MLK%20Endorsement%20Telegr
am.jpg.
“The Comprehensive City Plan of Montgomery,” City of Montgomery, AL, 11
July 1963, accessed 25th June 2022.
https://www.montgomeryal.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/7983/636
111051008400000.
“The landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka,” National Archives, May 1954, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brown-vboard-
1.html.
“U.S. Reports: Briggs v. Elliott, 342 U.S. 350 (1952).” Accessed August 4, 2022.
https://www.loc.gov/item/usrep342350/.
“United We Win,” National Archives, 1943, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers-of-persuasion.
“Vacation Bible School graduation at the Salvation Army Citadel in
Montgomery, Alabama,” Alabama Photographs and Pictures Collection,
13 June 1952, accessed 23rd April 2022.
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/26503.
Newspapers
“Alabama “Prayer-Pilgrimage” Held by Negroes as Protest”, Arizona Sun, 24
February 1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021917/1956-02-24/ed-
1/seq-
1/#date1=1777&index=0&rows=20&words=Alabama+Held+Negroes+Pi
lgrimage+Prayer+Prayer-
Pilgrimage+Protest&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=196
3&proxtext=Alabama+%E2%80%9CPrayer-
Pilgrimage%E2%80%9D+Held+by+Negroes+as+Protest&y=12&x=8&d
ateFilterType=yearRange&page=1.
156
“Boycott Lawyer Gets Draft Call”, Evening Star, 7 August 1956, accessed 24th
January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Boycott+Lawyer+Gets+Draft+Call&x=17&y
=19&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic.
“Bus Segregation Forces Have 9 Days to Appeal”, Evening Star, 20 June 1956,
accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Bus+Segregation+Forces+Have+9+Days+to+
Appeal&x=8&y=15&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType
=basic.
“Church Groups Protest Negro Ministers’ Arrest”, Evening Star, 28 February
1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Church+Groups+Protest+Negro+Ministers%
E2%80%99+Arrest&x=4&y=19&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&
searchType=basic.
“Goodwill Group Spreads Whispering-Prayer Campaign”, Arizona Sun, 2 March
1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021917/1956-03-02/ed-1/seq
1/#date1=1777&index=0&rows=20&words=Campaign+goodwill+Group
+Prayer+Spreads+Whispering+Whispering-
Prayer&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=
Goodwill+Group+Spreads+Whispering-
Prayer+Campaign&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1.
“Jim Crow Bus Boycott Hits Co. Pocketbook”, Arizona Sun, 20 January 1956,
accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021917/1956-01-20/ed-
1/seq-
4/#date1=1777&index=0&rows=20&words=Boycott+Bus+Co+Crow+Hi
ts+Jim+Pocketbook&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=19
63&proxtext=Jim+Crow+Bus+Boycott+Hits+Co.+Pocketbook&y=12&x
=5&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1.
157
“NAACP Convention Sidetracks Boycott Issue”, Arizona Sun, 19 July 1956,
accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=NAACP+Convention+Sidetracks+Boycott+Is
sue&x=19&y=9&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=bas
ic.
“NAACP Outlawed by Alabama Court as Boycott Backer”, Evening Star, 1 June
1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=NAACP+Outlawed+by+Alabama+Court+as+
Boycott+Backer&x=18&y=7&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&sea
rchType=basic.
“NAACP Ready to Abide by Alabama Injunction”, Evening Star, 2 June 1956,
accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=NAACP+Ready+to+Abide+by+Alabama+Inj
unction&x=6&y=14&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType
=basic.
“Negro Lawyer Indicted in Montgomery Boycott”, Evening Star, 19 February
1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Negro+Lawyer+Indicted+in+Montgomery+B
oycott&x=18&y=8&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=
basic.
“Negro Minister’s Home in Alabama Bombed”, Evening Star, 31 January 1956,
accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1956-01-31/ed-
1/seq-
9/#date1=1777&index=0&rows=20&words=Alabama+Bombed+Home+
Minister+Negro&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&
proxtext=Negro+Minister%E2%80%99s+Home+in+Alabama+Bombed&
y=18&x=8&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1.
“Negroes Extend Bus Boycott”, Evening Star, 27 April 1956, accessed 24th
January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Negroes+Extend+Bus+Boycott&x=0&y=0&
dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic.
158
“Negroes in Alabama City Refuse to End Bus Boycott”, Evening Star, 21
February 1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Negroes+in+Alabama+City+Refuse+to+End
+Bus+Boycott&x=12&y=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&sea
rchType=basic.
“Open Letter to Civil Rights Assembly in Washington”, Arizona Sun, 15 March
1956, accessed 24th January 1956.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Open+Letter+to+Civil+Rights+Assembly+in
+Washington&x=8&y=15&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searc
hType=basic.
“Rev. M. L. King Loses Case in Alabama”, Arizona Sun, 31 May 1956, accessed
24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Rev.+M.+L.+King+Loses+Case+in+Alabam
a&x=12&y=3&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic
“Supreme Court Kills Jim Crow on Southern Buses”, Arizona Sun, 22 November
1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Supreme+Court+Kills+Jim+Crow+on+South
ern+Buses&x=19&y=6&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchT
ype=basic.
“Text of Negro Bishops’ Resolution on Boycott”, Evening Star, 26 February
1956, accessed 24th January 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=17
77&date2=1963&proxtext=Text+of+Negro+Bishops%E2%80%99+Reso
lution+on+Boycott&x=16&y=11&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20
&searchType=basic.
“The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at an antiwar demonstration in New York,”
New York Times, April 1967, accessed 23rd April 2021.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/opinion/when-martin-luther-kingcame-
out-against-vietnam.html.
159
Secondary Sources
Articles
Altenbaugh, Richard J. “Liberation and Frustration: Fifty Years after Brown.”
History of Education Quarterly 44, no. 1 (2004): 1–9.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5959.2004.tb00142.x.
Caffrey, Bernard, Simms Anderson, and Janet Garrison. “Change in Racial
Attitudes of White Southerners after Exposure to the Atmosphere of a
Southern University.” Psychological Reports 25, no. 2 (1969): 555–58.
https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1969.25.2.555.
Carson, C. “To Walk in Dignity: The Montgomery Bus Boycott.” OAH
Magazine of History 19, no. 1 (2005): 13–15.
https://doi.org/10.1093/maghis/19.1.13.
Carson, Clayborne. “King, Martin Luther, Jr.” African American Studies Center,
2000. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.51116.
Deutsch, Karl W. “Social Mobilization and Political Development.” American
Political Science Review 55, no. 3 (1961): 493–514.
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055400125134.
DiPasquale, Denise, and Edward L Glaeser. “The Los Angeles Riot and the
Economics of Urban Unrest.” Journal of Urban Economics 43, no. 1
(1998): 52–78.
https://doi.org/10.1006/juec.1996.2035.
Durant, Thomas J., and Joyce S. Louden. “The Black Middle Class in America:
Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.” Phylon (1960-) 47, no. 4
(1986): 253.
https://doi.org/10.2307/274621.
Glennon, Robert Jerome. “The Role of Law in the Civil Rights Movement: The
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955–1957.” Law and History Review 9, no.
1 (1991): 59–112.
https://doi.org/10.2307/743660.
160
Hilliard, David. “The Transformation of South Australian Anglicanism, c. 1880–
1930.” Journal of Religious History 14, no. 1 (1986): 38–56.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9809.1986.tb00454.x.
Hines, Ralph H., and James E. Pierce. “Negro Leadership after the Social Crisis:
An Analysis of Leadership Changes in Montgomery, Alabama.” Phylon
(1960-) 26, no. 2 (1965): 162.
https://doi.org/10.2307/273631.
Johnson, Russell P. “Introducing Prophetic Pragmatism: A Dialogue on Hope,
the Philosophy of Race, and the Spiritual Blues.” American Journal of
Theology & Philosophy 42, no. 3 (2021): 80–83.
https://doi.org/10.5406/21564795.42.3.06.
Kennedy, Randall. “Martin Luther King's Constitution: A Legal History of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott.” The Yale Law Journal 98, no. 6 (1989): 999.
https://doi.org/10.2307/796572.
Klarman, Michael J. “Brown, Racial Change, and the Civil Rights Movement.”
Virginia Law Review 80, no. 1 (1994): 7.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1073592.
Medhurst, Martin. “Eisenhower and the Crusade for Freedom: The Rhetorical
Origins of a Cold War Campaign.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 24, no.
4 (1997): 646–61.
Owen, J. Judd. “The Struggle between ‘Religion and Nonreligion’: Jefferson,
Backus, and the Dissonance of America's Founding Principles.”
American Political Science Review 101, no. 3 (2007): 493–503.
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055407070232.
Searles, R., and J. A. Williams. “Negro College Students' Participation in Sit-
Ins.” Social Forces 40, no. 3 (1962): 215–20.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2573631.
161
Shultziner, Doron. “The Social-Psychological Origins of the Montgomery Bus
Boycott: Social Interaction and Humiliation in the Emergence of Social
Movements.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 18, no. 2 (2013):
117–42.
https://doi.org/10.17813/maiq.18.2.83123352476r2x82.
Books
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow. New York: The New Press, 2020.
Berg, Manfred. The Ticket to Freedom: The NAACP and the Struggle for Black
Political Integration. Univ PR of Florida, 2007.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American
People. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.
Burns, Stewart. To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Mission to Save
America 1955-1968. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2005.
Comprehensive Plan: Borough of Jenkintown, Montgomery County, PA.
Jenkintown, PA: Planning Commission, 1963.
Crisp, Beth R. The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Spirituality and Social
Work. London: Routledge, 2019.
Cullen, Jim. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a
Nation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Davidson, James West, and Mark Hamilton Lytle. After the Fact: The Art of
Historical Detection. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
Farber, David R., and Beth L. Bailey. The Columbia Guide to America in the
1960s. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
Garrow, David J. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference. New York: Perennial, 2006.
162
Gibson, Campbell, and Kay Jung. Historical Census Statistics on Population
Totals by Race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, for
the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States. Washington, DC, 2002.
Gibson, Robinson Jo Ann. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who
Started It the Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson. Knoxville: Univ. of
Tennessee Press, 2011.
Greene, Helen Taylor, and Shaun L. Gabbidon. Race and Crime: A Text/Reader.
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2012.
Greenhaw, Wayne. Montgomery: The River City. Montgomery: River City Pub.,
2002.
Hansen, Drew D. The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech That
Inspired a Nation. New York: Ecco, 2005.
Hanson, Joyce Ann. Rosa Parks: A Biography. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood,
2011.
Harvey, David. Social Justice and the City. Athens: University of Georgia Press,
2009.
Hull, Mary. Rose Parks Civil Rights Leader. New York: Chelsea House
Publishers, 1994.
Hutchison, Coleman. Apples and Ashes: Literature, Nationalism, and the
Confederate States of America. Athens: University of Georgia Press,
2012.
Jackson, Troy, and Clayborne Carson. Becoming King: Martin Luther King Jr.
and the Making of a National Leader. Lexington, KY: The University
Press of Kentucky, 2011.
Johnson, Peter D., and Amson Sibanda. Detailed Statistics on the Population of
South Africa, by Race and Urban / Rural Residence: 1950 to 2010.
Washington: US Bureau of the census, 1982.
163
Jonas, Gilbert. Freedom's Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle against Racism
in America, 1909-1969. London: Routledge, 2007.
Joseph, Peniel E. The Black Power Movement Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black
Power Era. New York, NY: Routledge, 2007.
King, Martin Luther, and Coretta Scott King. Where Do We Go from Here:
Chaos or Community? Boston: Beacon Press, 1967.
King, Martin Luther, Clayborne Carson, Tenisha Armstrong, Susan Carson,
Adrienne Clay, and Kieran Walsh Taylor. The Papers of Martin Luther
King, JR. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005.
King, Martin Luther. Letter from Birmingham Jail. London: Penguin Books,
2018.
King, Martin Luther. Strength to Love. London u.a.: Collins, 1972.
King, Martin Luther. Stride toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. London:
Souvenir Press, 2021.
Lieberman, Robbie, and Clarence Lang. Anticommunism and the African
American Freedom Movement: "Another Side of the Story". Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Meyer, David S., Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett. Social Movements
Identity, Culture, and the State. New York: Oxford University Press,
2002.
Miller, Randall M., Harry S. Stout, and Charles Reagan Wilson. Religion and the
American Civil War. New York: Oxford University, 1998.
Park, Robert Ezra, Ernest Watson Burgess, and Roderick Duncan McKenzie.
The City Suggestions for Investigation of Human Behavior in the Urban
Environment. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr, 1992.
164
Patterson, James T. Grand Expectations: The United States: 1945-1974. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Rogers, William Warren, Robert David Ward, Leah Rawls Atkins, and Wayne
Flynt. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State. Tuscaloosa: The
University of Alabama Press, 2018.
Royce, Josiah. Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American Problems.
Bibliolife, 2011.
Royce, Josiah. The Problem of Christianity Lectures Delivered at the Lowell
Institute in Boston, and at Manchester College, Oxford. New York:
Macmillan, 1914.
Schraff, Anne E. Rosa Parks. Irvine, CA: Saddleback Educational Pub., 2008.
Selby, Gary S. Martin Luther King and the Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus
Narrative in America's Struggle for Civil Rights. Waco, TX: Baylor
University Press, 2008.
Sennett, Richard. The Fall of Public Man: The Forces Eroding Public Life and
Burdening the Modern Psyche with Roles It Cannot Perform. New York:
Knopf, 1977.
Street, Joe. The Culture War in the Civil Rights Movement. Gainesville:
University Press of Florida, 2007.
Sunnemark, Fredrik. Ring out Freedom! The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2004.
Theoharis, Jeanne, and Brandy Colbert. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.
Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2021.
Wilkerson, Isabel, and Isabel Wilkerson. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic
Story of America's Great Migration. London: Penguin Random House,
2020.
165
Williams, Donnie. The Thunder of Angels the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the
People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow\CDonnie Williams and Wayne
Greenhaw. Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 2007.
Williams, Yohuru R. Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement. New York:
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.
Yanco, Jennifer J. Misremembering Dr. King: Revisiting the Legacy of Martin
Luther King Jr. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014.
Online Sources
“Abernathy, Ralph David,” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education
Institute, accessed August 11, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/abernathy-ralph-david.
“About Arizona Sun. [Volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1942-196?”, Chronicling
America, accessed April 23, 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021917/.
“About Evening Star. [Volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972,” Chronicling
America, accessed April 23, 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/.
“About the Militant Paper,” accessed August 11, 2022.
https://themilitant.com/about/.
“About The Topeka State Journal. [Volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980,”
accessed August 1, 2022.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016014/.
“Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barbara-Leigh-Smith-Bodichon.
“Blest Be the Tie That Binds,” accessed August 9, 2022.
https://www.loc.gov/item/sm1879.05892/.
166
“Browder v. Gayle, 352 U.S. 903,” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and
Education Institute, accessed August 9, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/browder-v-gayle-352-us-
903.
“Cross That Alabama River Again': Haynes Johnson's Selma Reportage.”
Accessed August 11, 2022.
https://www.pulitzer.org/news/cross-alabama-river-again-haynesjohnsons-
selma-reportage.
“Dissertations and Theses (Pre-1964),” accessed August 11, 2022.
https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/3722.
“Gandhi Society for Human Rights,” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and
Education Institute, accessed August 1, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-society-humanrights.
“Haynes Johnson of Washington Evening Star,” accessed August 11, 2022.
https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/haynes-johnson.
“Highlander Folk School,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/highlander-folk-school.
“In Search of Black Progress,” accessed August 11, 2022.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/07/24/in-searchof-
black-progress/09310ff2-b558-43f9-9cd5-ad05bbfa8fda/.
“Josiah Royce,” accessed August 11, 2022.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/royce/.
“‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’” accessed August 9, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/letter-birmingham-jail
“Lewis, John,” accessed August 9, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/lewis-john.
167
“Louisiana Separate Car Act, 1890,” The Making of the Modern US, accessed
August 1, 2022.
http://projects.leadr.msu.edu/makingmodernus/exhibits/show/plessy-v--
ferguson-1896/louisiana-separate-car-act--18.
“Marion Trikosko,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://art.state.gov/personnel/marion_trikosko/.
“Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.nps.gov/mlkm/learn/quotations.htm.
“Minutes of Montgomery Improvement Association Founding Meeting, by U. J.
Fields.” accessed August 9, 2022. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/kingpapers/
documents/minutes-montgomery-improvement-associationfounding-
meeting-u-j-fields.
“National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” accessed
August 8, 2022.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Association-for-the-
Advancement-of-Colored-People.
“Portfolio: Danny Lyon,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/portfolios/port_
lyon.html.
“Scottsboro Boys,” Library of Congress, accessed July 22, 2022.
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-thisexhibition/
early-life-and-activism/scottsboro-boys/.
“Smiley, Glenn E,” accessed August 9, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/smiley-glenn-e.
“Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/southern-christianleadership-
conference-sclc.
168
“State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr., Nos. 7399 and 9593,” accessed August 9,
2022.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/state-alabama-v-m-l-kingjr-
nos-7399-and-9593.
“Sunday School,” accessed August 4, 2022.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sunday-school.
“The Constitution of the United States,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution.
“The Great Migration (1910-1970),” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/migrations/greatmigration.
“The Salvation Army's Response to False Claims on the Topic of Racism,”
accessed August 4, 2022.
https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/story/the-salvation-armysresponse-
to-false-claims-on-the-topic-of-racism/.
“The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),” National Archives,
accessed August 1, 2022. https://www.archives.gov/research/africanamericans/
black-power/sncc.
“Voting Rights Act (1965),” National Archives, accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act.
“Voting Rights for African Americans,” Library of Congress, accessed August 4,
2022.
https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/right-to-vote/votingrights-
for-african-americans/.
“Warren K. Leffler,” Art in Embassies, accessed August 1, 2022.
https://art.state.gov/personnel/warren_leffler/.
169
“Watch Martin Luther King's Iconic 'I Have a Dream' Speech,” accessed August
1, 2022. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/martinluther-
king-i-have-a-dream-video-washington-dc-lincoln-memorial-civilrights-
movement-a8286926.html.
“Arsenault, Raymond,” National Archives, accessed August 1, 2022.
https://archive.org/details/freedomriders1960000arse.
Hall, Allan. “Hitler's Former Maid at His Mountain Retreat Reveals All as She
Break Her Silence after 71 Years,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614525/2pm-lie-ins-daily-
Fuhrer-Cake-Hitlers-former-maid-mountain-retreat-reveals-breaksilence-
71-years.html.
Hendrickson, Paul. “The Ladies Before Rosa,” accessed August 9, 2022.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/04/12/the-ladiesbefore-
rosa/469bf82c-16c0-45c5-9991-812ac6a6005f/.
Hoh, Anchi. “The 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948),”
accessed August 11, 2022.
https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2019/09/the-150th-birthanniversary-
of-mahatma-gandhi-1869-1948/.
Jenkins, Ray. “John Patterson, Alabama Governor Who Embodied Southern
Defiance to Civil Rights, dies at 99,” accessed August 9, 2022.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/john-pattersondead/
2021/06/05/3f0dd79a-c642-11eb-93f5-ee9558eecf4b_story.html.
King Jr., Martin Luther. “Discerning the Signs of History,” accessed August 1,
2022. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/kingpapers/
documents/discerning-signshistory#:~:
text=If%20we%20are%20to%20discern,seed%20of%20its%2
0own%20destruction
Palley, Thomas. “The Forces Making for an Economic Collapse,” accessed
August 4, 2022.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/07/the-forcesmaking-
for-an-economic-collapse/376621/.
170
Parry, Manon. “Benjamin Spock: Pediatrician and Anti-War Activist,” accessed
August 1, 2022.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3076385/.
Pilgrim, David. “What Was Jim Crow,” accessed August 1, 2022.
https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/what.htm.
W. Brannan, Beverly. “Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971),” accessed August
1, 2022.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/womphotoj/bourkewhiteessay.html.
Zengerle, Jason. “The Man Who Was Everywhere the Serendipitous Political
Career of Harris Wofford,” n.d. accessed August 1, 2022.
https://newrepublic.com/article/120160/harris-wofford-20th-centurysmost-
serendipitous-man.
171
APPENDICES
A. TURKISH SUMMARY / TÜRKÇE ÖZET
MARTİN LUTHER KİNG JR.’IN MİRASI: MONTGOMERY OTOBÜS
BOYKOTU (1955), MUTEBER TOPLUM VE PASİF DİRENİŞ
Devlet ile birey arasındaki ilişkiyi hukuken tanımlayan vatandaşlık kavramı,
tarihsel süreçte pek çok hak ve özgürlük mücadelesinin öznesine haline
gelmiştir. Amerikan Devrimi (1765-1783) ve Fransız Devrimi (1789) sonrasında
sosyal ve politik bağlamda kuramsallaşan ve kurumsallaşan yurttaşlık hakları
yalnızca fonksiyonel üstünlüğü temsil eden devletin yüceliğine değil, aynı
zamanda yurttaşların demokratik katılım sürecine ve ifade özgürlüğüne
dayanmaktadır. Amerikan Bağımsızlık Bildirgesi (1776), tüm insanların eşit
yaratıldığını ve onların yaratıcı tarafından verilen yaşama ve özgürlük gibi belirli
devredilemez haklarını olduğunu vurgulamaktaydı. Söz konusu bildirge, bu
hakları güvence altına almak için oluşturulan düzeni yurttaşların rızası ile
ilişkilendirmekteydi. Herhangi bir hükümet söz konusu karşılıklı ilişkiyi
aşındırmaya çalışırsa, onu değiştirmek veya ortadan kaldırmak yurttaşların temel
hakkıydı. Bu kapsamda Birleşik Devletleri’nin kuruluş ilkelerinin geçerliliği ve
uygulanabilirliği tartışmaya açıktır. Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nin kurucu
babalarından ve Bağımsızlık Bildirgesi’nin yazarlarından olan Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826), 1801 yılında, başkanlığının ilan edildiği konuşmasında eşitliğin
önemini vurgulayarak çoğunluğa dayalı ve azınlığı elimine eden potansiyel
hegemonyayı reddetmişti. Bu kurucu yaklaşımın aksine Amerika Birleşik
Devletleri'ndeki Beyaz çoğunluk, Afroamerikalıların yurttaşlık haklarını uzun
yıllar boyunca tanımayı reddetti. Özellikle, Soğuk Savaş döneminin
kutuplaştırıcı siyaseti, devletin Beyaz üstünlüğüne dayalı hegemonik ideolojisini
172
özne haline getirirken, Afroamerikalıların eşitlik ve adalet temelli mücadelesini
ikilemli ve kompleks bir sürece zorlamaktaydı.
Bu tez, yakın Birleşik Devletler tarihinin önemli olaylarından biri olarak
Yurttaşlık Hareketi’ni değerlendirirken, Birleşik Devletleri’nin kurucu ilkelerini
bu bağlamda muhakeme etme alanı açmaktadır. Çalışmanın özünü teşkil eden
Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu, gerek yurttaşlık hareketine kitlesel ölçekte bir
kimlik kazandırması gerek Martin Luther King Jr., ve onun mücadele
konseptlerine uygulama alanı tanıması nedeniyle özgün bir örnek olarak
karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Boykot sayesinde görünürlüğü artan Yurttaşlık Hareketi,
ırkçılığın sıradan insanların günlük yaşamlarının önemli bir parçası olduğunu
gözler önüne sermiştir. Bir terzinin protestosu ulusal bir isyanı tetiklerken,
King’in liderlik potansiyeli ilk kez halk tarafından sınandı.
Bu çalışma, King’in mücadelesinin temelini oluşturan “Muteber Toplum” ve
“Pasif Direniş” konseptlerini tartışmaya açarak Yurttaşlık Hareketi’nin orta ve
uzun vadeli kazanımlarını değerlendirmeye çalışmıştır. Birçok ikincil kaynakta
da geniş bir şekilde tartışılan bu mesele, tezde King’in manevi kimliği, epizodik
çabaları ve söz konusu dönemin özgün koşulları bağlamında farklı sosyopolitik
tandanslara sahip iki gazetenin boykotu referans alan haberleri analiz edilerek
yeniden değerlendirilmiştir. Muhafazakar eğilimleri ile ön plana çıkan
Washington Star ve Afroamerikalıların mücadelesinde adeta bir propaganda
aracına dönüşen Arizona Sun gazeteleri dönemin zihniyeti, algı yönetimleri ve
sosyal davranışlar hakkında bilgilendirici ipuçları sunmaktadır. Yanı sıra, çeşitli
konuşma kayıtları, mektuplar, mahkeme tutanakları, resmi belgeler ve posterler
birincil kaynak olarak tezde değerlendirilmiştir. Bu tez, boykotun gerekçeleri,
dinamikleri ve sonuçları üzerine eğilerek, yakın Amerikan tarihinde sosyal ve
politik mekanizmalar tarafından marjinalleştirilmiş ve ötekileştirilmiş sıradan
insanların tarihin akışını değiştirici rollerini açığa çıkarmaya çalışmıştır. Bu
bağlamda, King’in düşünsel mirasını ele almak, Birleşik Devletler tarihinin
dönüm noktalarından birini oluşturan Yurttaşlık Hareketi’nin analizini
kolaylaştırıcı bir etmen olacaktır.
173
Tezin ikinci bölümünde, Amerikan Sivil Haklarının tarihsel arka planına
kültürel, sosyal ve politik yönlerden kısa bir şekilde odaklanılmıştır. Böylece,
Yurttaşlık Hareketi’ni besleyen toplumsal güdüler açığa çıkarılmaya
çalışılmıştır. Bu bölümde, ırkçılığı ve toplumsal ayrımcılığı muhafaza eden ve
meşrulaştırılan birtakım yasal düzenlemeler ele alınmıştır. Birleşik Devletler ’de
toplumsal kutuplaşmaya neden olan ırk ayrımcılığı yasalarının Yurttaşlık
Hareketi’ndeki yeri analiz edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Özellikle, Brown v. Board of
Education olarak bilinen dava ve 1964 tarihli Yurttaşlık Hakları Yasası’na
değinilmiştir. Bu bölümde, Güney Hristiyan Liderlik Konferansı, Pasif Direniş
Öğrenci Koordinasyon Komitesi, Siyahi İnsanların Gelişmesi İçin Ulusal Birlik
Platformu gibi demokratik kitle örgütleri, Yurttaşlık Hareketi bağlamında hem
Martin Luther King’in rolünü hem de Afroamerikalıların örgütlenme becerilerini
ele almak amacıyla incelenmiştir. Bu noktada, çeşitli propaganda afişlerinden ve
fotoğraflardan yararlanılarak hareketi tetikleyen çeşitli sosyal, politik ve
ekonomik dinamikler irdelenmiştir.
Üçüncü bölümde, Martin Luther King’in mücadele temel mücadele konseptlerini
oluşturan “Muteber Toplum” ve “Pasif Direniş” King’in kendi kitaplarından
yararlanılarak ele alınmıştır. Martin Luther King üzerindeki entelektüel etkisi
aşikar bir biçimde ortaya çıkan Amerikalı düşünür Josiah Royce (1855-1916),
King’in düşünsel ajandasını ele almak amacıyla incelenmiştir. Bu bağlamda hem
muteber toplum tezinin kökeni hem de ve pasif direnişin aşamaları
Afroamerikalıların eşit yurttaşlık mücadelesi açısından ele alınmıştır.
Tezin dördüncü bölümünde, Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu ayrıntılı olarak ele
alınmıştır. Martin Luther King Jr.'ın rolünün ve toplumsal önderliğinin yanı sıra
Claudette Colvin ve Rosa Parks gibi sivil itaatsizliğin ve pasif direnişin
kilometre taşlarını döşeyen isimlere yer verilmiştir. Bu bölümde, yöntemi, içeriği
ve uygulanan mücadele konseptleri açısından ele alınarak Montgomery Otobüs
Boykotunun neden Yurttaşlık Hareketi üzerinde belirleyici ve dönüştürücü bir
etkisi olduğu tartışmaya açılmıştır. Ayrıca, boykot sırasında demokratik kitle
örgütleri ve Martin Luther King tarafından izlenen yol ve gündem getirilen
174
talepler ile Birleşik Devletler ’in kurucu ilkeleri arasında bir paralellik
kurulmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu bölümde, gazetelerden alınan bir dizi haber, çeşitli
konuşma kayıtları, mektuplar, kitle örgütlerine ait resmi dokümanlar ve
mahkeme tutanakları karşılaştırmalı ve analitik bir bakış açısı sunmak amacıyla
kullanılmıştır.
Yakın dönem Birleşik Devletler tarihinde önemli bir yer tutan Yurttaşlık
Hareketi toplumsal, kültürel ve siyasal açıdan Amerikan toplumun çehresini
değiştirmiştir. Bu süreç, Soğuk Savaş dönemi koşullarının etkisi ve gölgesi
altında yaşanmasından dolayı özgün bir yer tutmuştur. Eşitlik mücadelesi ile
yeniden gündeme gelen adalet ve özgürlük kavramları Birleşik Devletler
sathında bir çatışma alanı yaratmıştır. Toplumsal, kültürel, ekonomik ve politik
açıdan, Birleşik Devletler ’in 1948 ile 1968 yılları arasında tanık olduğu
dönüşüm kuşkusuz Afroamerikalılar için yeniden doğuşu sembolize etti. Birleşik
Devletler ’in 33. Başkanı Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) tarafından 1948'de
imzalanan kararname Amerikan ordusunda ırk ayrımcılığını ortadan kaldırmayı
amaçlıyordu ve bu karar Yurttaşlık Hareketi açısından adeta bir mihenk taşıydı.
Ayrıca, 1968 yılında suikasta uğrayarak yaşamını yitiren Martin Luther King Jr.
(1929-1968), özellikle Afroamerikalılar açısından manevi bir kurtuluş önderine
dönüşerek eşitlik mücadelesinin uzun vadeli geleceğini belirledi. King’in
entelektüel ve politik mirası onu sembolleştirirken Afroamerikalıları sonuç
odaklı bir mücadelenin öznesine dönüştürdü. Afrikalı Amerikalıların
mücadelesinin yükselmeye başladığı dönemde, Amerikan toplumu, II. Dünya
Savaşı sonrasının hem endişeli hem de konforlu yıllarını yaşamaktaydı. Bu
açıdan bakıldığında, Birleşik Devletler ‘de yaşanan toplumsal değişim
irdelenmelidir. Dünya Savaşı'ndan sonra artan kentleşme ve Amerika Birleşik
Devletleri'nde artmakta olan orta sınıf popülasyonu ve renk, dil ve inanç temelli
toplumsal ayrımcılığı eleştiren Yurttaşlık Hareketi bağlamında yeniden ele
alınmalıdır. Soğuk Savaş yıllarında otoriter ve ataerkil bir modernleşmeye
tanıklık eden Birleşik Devletler ’de Yurttaşlık Hareketi’nin ölçeğini ve etkisini
tahmin etmek ya da somutlaştırmak epey güçtü, ancak toplumsal bilinç ve
önderlik kadrosu illüzyonları elimine etmeye çalıştı. Soğuk Savaş koşulları
175
altında verilen eşitlik ve özgürlük mücadelesi Beyaz otoriteler tarafından devlet
aygıtına ve kurulu düzene bir saldırı olarak ele alınarak şeytanlaştırılmaktaydı.
Bu bağlamda Jim Crow yasaları, ırkçılığa dayalı bir sosyal kontrol
mekanizmasına ve devlet otoritesi ile Afroamerikalılar arasında mütekabiliyete
dayanmayan bir etkileşim aracına dönüşmüştü. Böylece, Afroamerikalıların
devlet aygıtıyla olan manevi bağı kopma noktasına gelmiş, hukuki bağı
zedelenmiş, toplumsal ilişkiler ise eşitsizliğe ve adaletsizliğe dayalı bir hal
almıştı.
Jim Crow Yasaları, Amerikan halkının ortak çıkarlar, ortak bilinç ve ortak
değerler etrafında birleşerek oluşturacakları geleceğin önündeki en büyük
engellerden birini oluşturuyordu. Bu durum, Birleşik Devletler’ in eşitsizlik ve
ayrımcılık üzerine kurulu toplumsal yapısını temelli gerilimlere karşı savunmasız
hale getirmiştir. Peşi sıra, Afroamerikalıların demokratik kitle faaliyetleri ivme
kazanmıştır. Önde gelen kitle örgütleri olarak Güney Hristiyan Liderlik
Konferansı (SCLC), Pasif Direniş Öğrenci Koordinasyon Komitesi (SNCC) ve
Siyahi İnsanların Gelişmesi İçin Ulusal Birlik Platformu (NAACP)
Afroamerikalıların sosyal ve kültürel alanlarda verdiği eşitlik ve özgürlük
mücadelesinin gövdesini oluşturdu. Ayrıca bu kurumlar sivil itaatsizliği ve pasif
direnişi güçlendirerek toplumsal bir mücadele ajandası oluşturmaya çalıştı. Sözü
edilen örgütlerin yol ve yöntemleri Martin Luther King’in mücadele konseptleri
ile birlikte ele alındığında, Soğuk Savaş’ın gergin politik ve toplumsal atmosferi
altında Birleşik Devletler ’in Afroamerikalıların özgürlük alanını genişleten,
yumuşak geçişe dayalı bir devrime tanıklık ettiği öne sürülebilir.
Amerikan Yurttaşlık Hareketi'nin lideri Martin Luther King, yalnızca ırkçılığa ve
eşitsizliğe değil, aynı zamanda geleneksel ve alışılmış direniş yöntemlerine de
karşıydı. Onun mücadelesi ve direniş konseptleri, şiddeti değil barışçıl bir
itaatsizliği yüceltmekteydi. Bu bağlamda, toplumsal ve politik bir dönüşümün
temsilcisi olan King Jr. ve onun manevi liderliği, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'nin
yakın tarihini derinden etkiledi. King Jr.'ın barışçıl bir atmosferde topyekûn
vermeye gayret sarf ettiği toplumsal mücadelesi, sadece Amerikan toplumu için
176
değil, dünyanın geri kalanı için de bir örnek teşkil ederek yirminci yüzyılın en
önemli safhalarından birini oluşturdu. Ayrıca King, Afroamerikalıların maruz
kaldığı ayrımcılığı yalnızca politik bir kamplaşma ile değil toplumsal ve
ekonomik çıkmazlarla ifade etti. Sivil itaatsizlik ve barışçıl direniş sadece
Afroamerikalıları değil, dönemin gergin atmosferi altında tek tipleştirilmeye
çalışılan ve ifade hürriyetleri kısıtlanan Beyaz Amerikalılar açısından da bir kapı
araladı. Mücadele sathında eşitliği ve adaleti yüceltmek amacıyla dini retoriği
elden bırakmayan Martin Luther King, güçlü bir konuma yerleşti.
Mücadelenin tarzı ve yöntemi inşa edilirken Beyazlar ve Afroamerikalılar
arasında aşınmış olan manevi bütünlük siyasi kırılma noktalarını belirgin ve
hassas bir noktaya taşıdı. Bu bağlamda, King’in materyalizm karşıtı görüşleri
O’nun dini aidiyetleri ile yakından ilişkiliydi. Irkçılığa karşı verdiği mücadelede
King, militarizmi de eleştirerek egemen Beyaz otoriteye karşı yeni bir mücadele
alanı açmıştı. Bununla birlikte, King’in ajandası hiçbir biçimde siyasi bir
bölünmeyi içermemekteydi. Bu yönüyle King, egemen Beyaz otorite ve
toplumsal düzenin gözünde makbul olma kaygısı ve sistem içi çözümlerin
oluşturduğu paradoksla yüzleşti. King’in düşünsel ve eylemsel planında, Soğuk
Savaş atmosferinde verilecek bir mücadele ancak barışçıl bir ajanda kullanılarak
başarıya ulaşabilirdi. King'e göre iç barışın tesisi, küresel çapta eşitlik ve adaletin
sağlanması bunun için bir ön koşuldu. King’in perspektifinde somutlaşan
Hristiyan değerlerinin ve manevi bütünlüğünün mücadelede sıkça vurgulanması
Afroamerikalılar nezdinde Beyazlara karşı gelişecek potansiyel bir ırkçılığı
büyük ölçüde engelledi. King, ırksal konulara sosyal ve ekonomik açılardan
yaklaşmayı önceleyerek eşitliğe dayalı ortak bir geleceği yaratmaya çalıştı.
Bunun en büyük örneklerinden birini 28 Ağustos 1963’te Washington'da yaptığı
kitlesel konuşmada sadece Afroamerikalılar için değil tüm Amerikalılar için
eşitlik ve adalet çağrısında bulunarak verdi. Buradaki konuşmasında
Amerikalıların kurucu babalarına atıfta bulunan King, ortak geçmişi vurgularken
aynı zamanda Afroamerikalıların makbul olma arayışını gözler önüne
sermekteydi. Bu tutum, Yurttaşlık Hareketi’nin meşruiyetini güçlendiren bir
etmene dönüştü. Afroamerikalılar yabancılaştırılmış ve izole edilmiş bir azınlık
177
olmalarına rağmen bir vatanı paylaşmaya karar verdikleri Beyaz Amerikalılara
nefret söylemi kullanmayı tercih etmediler. Yurttaşlık Hareketi bağlamında
sergilenen bu tutum sayesinde mücadele hukuki bir kimlik kazanmayı başarırken
kanlı bir iç savaşın önüne geçilmiş oldu. Bu vesileyle, Yurttaşlık Hareketi
kamusal propaganda stratejilerine ve kitle iletişimine her zamankinden daha
fazla ihtiyaç duymaktaydı.
Kuşkusuz, 20. yüzyılın en önemli sivil itaatsizlik eylemlerinden birine tanıklık
eden Montgomery'nin toplumsal yapısının analizi hem boykotu hem de eylemin
Afroamerikalılar ve Beyazlar açısından ortaya çıkardığı davranışsal etkileri
görmek açısından tutarlı olacaktır. Bu bağlamda, Afroamerikalıların ve manevi
bir öndere dönüşen King’in yasal engellemelerle ve gecikmelerle karşı karşıya
kalması Montgomery’de başlayan Otobüs Boykotunun kapsamı ve yöntemi
açısından belirleyici bir unsura dönüştü. Yine de potansiyel yurttaşlık hakları
kampanyalarının önündeki en önemli duvar sosyopsikolojik bir korku ve
gerilime dayanmaktaydı. Amerikan toplumunda, Soğuk Savaş’ın ürettiği siyasi
ideoloji sivil itaatsizliği herhangi bir muhtemel başarı için geçerli tek seçenek
haline getirmekteydi. Şiddete dayalı bir isyan seçeneğini ortadan kaldıran bu
toplumsal atmosfer, Afroamerikalıların King’in önderliğinde muteber toplumu
inşa etmek amacıyla meşru bir düzlemde bir araya gelmesine yol açtı. Son derece
pragmatik ve işlevsel bir kavram olarak muteber toplum ideali sivil itaatsizliği
yücelten ve besleyen bir mücadele konseptine dönüştü. Özellikle Montgomery
Otobüs Boykotu, Afroamerikalıların barışçıl ve eşitlikçi bir çerçevede Beyaz
Amerikalılar ile bir arada yaşama istencini ortaya koymaktaydı. Bu aşamada,
King’in önderliği mutlak bir ruhsal saflığı simgelerken başta militarizm ve
materyalizm olmak üzere iddia edilen toplumsal kutuplaşma alanlarını
aşındırmaya gayret ediyordu. King’e göre toplumsal birliği oluşturacak olan
muteber toplum idealinin yolu dini bir savunu ile açılabilirdi.
Birleşik Devletler tarihine bakıldığında, Montgomery’nin Afroamerikalılar için
bir merkez haline geldiği görülecektir. Tarihsel miras açısından incelendiğinde,
Amerikan Konfedere Devletleri'nin eski başkenti olarak, 20. yüzyılın en büyük
178
pasif direnişlerinden birine ev sahipliği yapan Montgomery, bağlamsal olarak
Yurttaşlık Hareketi ile toplumun kurucu ilkelerin rehberliği altında yeniden inşa
edilmesi arasındaki ilişkiyi göstermektedir. Amerikan Nüfus Bürosu’nun
1950'lerde yayımladığı verilere göre, kentin başkentlik yaptığı Alabama'da
nüfusun %68'ini Beyazlar, %32'sini ise Afroamerikalılar oluşturmaktaydı. Rosa
Parks (1913-2005)’ın otobüsteki koltuğunu bir Beyaza vermeyi reddetmesiyle
gelişen olaylar, Montgomery’yi Yurttaşlık Hareketi açısından önemli bir
merkeze dönüştürdü. Parks’ın tutuklanması kentte toplumsal mücadele odaklı
mekanizmaların harekete geçmesi sonucunu doğurdu. King’in öncülük ettiği ve
özellikle kentteki ırk ayrımcılığına karşı mücadele veren Montgomery’yi
Geliştirme Derneği (MIA) ve Siyahi İnsanların Gelişmesi İçin Ulusal Birlik
Platformu (NAACP) Bayan Parks'ın tutumunu kitlesel bir pasif direnişe
dönüştürmek için çaba gösterdi. Bu noktada, sözü edilen demokratik kitle
örgütlerinin birincil amacı ırk ayrımcılığına karşı toplumsal muhalefeti
oluşturmaktı. Bu kampanya uzun vadeli ve sonuç odaklı bir ajandaya
dayanmaktaydı. Bu noktada, Afroamerikalıların gündelik hayatlarında
karşılaştıkları ayrımcılık ajite edilerek potansiyel kitle oluşturulmaya çalışıldı.
Kitle örgütleri, King’in öncülüğünde gönüllüğe dayalı bir platform oluşturarak
ve bir iletişim ağı kurarak boykot sürecinde karşılaşılabilecek olası ulaşım
mağduriyetlerini gidermeye çalıştı. Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu, King’in
mücadele yaşamında kayda değer bir yer tuttu. Boykot, King’in
Afroamerikalıların doğal lideri konumuna yükseltirken Yurttaşlık Hareketi’ni
kitlesel bir eyleme dönüştürmeyi başardı. Boykot, yasal gecikmeler ve
engellemeler karşısında kısa vadeli ve ölçülebilir sonuçları vermese de orta ve
uzun vadede Afroamerikalılar açısından hem yasal hem de fiili başarılara yol
açtı. Martin Luther King’in boykot sürecinde pasif direniş yönteminde ısrarcı
olması toplumsal mücadelenin maliyetli bir aşamasını yarattı. Yanı sıra, Otobüs
Boykotu, King’e yeni bir kimlik kazandırarak dini önderliğinin yanına politik
önderliğini eklemledi. Montgomery’nin ırk ayrımcılığı altında betimlenebilecek
toplumsal atmosferi ve demokratik kitle örgütlerinin eylemsel davranışları
King’e politik önderliğini güçlendirebileceği bir alan açtı. Tutumlarını ve
179
davranışlarını dini retorikle güçlendirilmiş bir bilgelikle sunan Martin Luther
King, boykotun uzun vadeli eylem planının hazırlanması sürecinde başat aktöre
dönüştü. Sıradan kent sakinlerinin boykota karşı gösterdiği demokratik katılım,
pasif direniş yönteminin geçerliliğini ortaya koyarken toplumsal aktivizm
Afroamerikalılar arasında güçlendi. Boykot sürecinde kiliselerde organize edilen
halk toplantıları ve forumlar King ve Afroamerikan toplumu arasındaki bağı
güçlendirirken eylem planını uygulamayı kolaylaştırıcı kitlesel bir hareketi
besledi. Sözü edilen toplantılarda, King mütemadiyen Beyaz yurttaşlara karşı
herhangi bir nefret söyleminden ve ötekileştirici tutumdan kaçınılması
gerektiğini salık vermekteydi. King, her ne kadar kilise toplantıları aracılığıyla
Afroamerikalıları mücadele düzleminde motive etmeye çalışsa da ırk
ayrımcılığını sona erdirmek için Beyaz Amerikalılar içinden müttefiklere ihtiyacı
olduğunun farkındaydı. Dolayısıyla bu çıkışı, sistem içi çözümler ararken ortaya
çıkan makbul olma kaygısına yönelik pragmatik bir tutum olarak ele alınabilir.
Bu bağlamda, uzun vadeli bir eylemselliğe dayanan otobüs boykotunun ardından
gelen yasal kazanımlar, Beyaz Amerikalılar nezdinde yurttaşlık haklarına
yönelik herhangi bir çekimser tutum oluşturmama kaygısıyla gecikmeli bir
biçimde uygulandı. Bu aşamada, King’in Beyazlar ve Afroamerikalılar
paydaşlığında inşa etmeye çalıştığı ortak geleceği Hristiyan kardeşliğinde
tasavvur etmesi belirleyici bir role sahiptir.
İfade edildiği üzere, tezin dördüncü bölümünde Montgomery Otobüs
Boykotunun toplumsal yansımalarını irdelemek ve farklı eğilimlerin bakış
açılarını gözler önüne sermek amacıyla gazete haberlerinden yararlanılmıştır.
Gazeteler, tarihi olayları ve gerçekleri analiz etmek için açısından önemli birinci
el kaynaklar arasında yer almaktadır. Burada yayımlanan manşetler,
illüstrasyonlar ve çok sayıda makale, toplumun zihniyeti, davranışları ve otorite
sahiplerinin yaklaşımlarını irdelemek açısından hayati bilgiler sunmaktadır.
Dahası, döneme doğrudan tanıklık eden gazetecilerin aktardıklarını ele almak
karmaşık konuları kavramak açısından kolaylaştırıcı bir yol sunmaktadır.
Bilimsel bir araştırma ve değerlendirme yöntemi olarak gazetelerin incelenmesi
tarihsel bir olayın çerçevelendirilmesi ve tanıkların görüşlerini yansıtmak
180
açısından kritik bir öneme sahiptir. Böylece, tarihi sadece yazan değil yapan
karakterleri de ele alma fırsatı doğacaktır. Fakat, not edilmelidir ki, gazetede
yayımlanan haberler herhangi bir görüşün, eğilimin ya da kişinin propagandasını
yapmak misyonuyla yazılmış olabilir. Bu çerçevede, olası objektivite sorunları
ile karşı karşıya kalınabilir.
Bu bağlamda, Montgomery Otobüs Boykotunun toplumsal yansımaları,
Amerikan Kongre Kütüphanesi’nin çevrimiçi arşivinden yararlanılarak iki gazete
üzerinden incelenmiştir. Arizona Sun ve Washington Star adlı gazetelerin veri
tabanları ele alınarak boykot hakkında yayımlanan önemli haberler taranmıştır.
Boykota referans veren yaklaşık doksan sayı incelemeye tabii tutulmuştur. Bu
noktada, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks ve Montgomery Geliştirme Derneği’ne
atıf yapan sayılara özellikle odaklanılmıştır. 1940'ların başında yayımlanmaya
başlanan Arizona Sun, adeta Afroamerikalıların kitlesel bir propaganda aracına
dönüşerek onların maruz kaldığı toplumsal, ekonomik ve politik ayrımcılığa ışık
tutmaktaydı. Hatta, gazetenin önde gelen editörlerinden olan Doc Benson,
NAACP’nin Arizona şubesinde başkan olarak görev yapmaktaydı. Yanı sıra
Benson, 1950 seçimlerinde Demokratik Parti listesinde yarışmıştı. Öte yandan,
bir araştırmacı ve girişimci olan William Douglas Wallach tarafından kurulan ve
1970’lere kadar yayımlanan Washington Star, daha muhafazakar bir yayın
çizgisini takip ediyordu. Bununla birlikte, gazetenin tanınmış muhabirlerinden
biri olan Haynes Johnson (1931-2013) Yurttaşlık Hareketi sürecinde yaptığı
haberlerden ötürü Pulitzer Ödülü ile taltif edilmişti. Martin Luther King, 1965
yılında Johnson’a verdiği röportajda tüm aşağılayıcı ve insanlık dışı tutumlara
rağmen Afroamerikalıların hürriyet için verdiği mücadelenin devam edeceğini
vurgulamıştı. Söz konusu gazetelerden seçili haber metinleri incelendiğinde
boykotun önderi haline dönüşen Martin Luther King’in açıklamalarına geniş bir
biçimde yer verildiği gözlemlenirken, eylemin konseptini ve mücadele
kapsamını şekillendiren MIA ve NAACP’nin adının sık sık geçtiği görülmüştür.
Ek olarak, kiliselerde düzenlenen halk toplantıları ve boykota ilişkin yasal
süreçler de söz konusu haberlerde yer bulmuştur.
181
Çok kültürlülüğün ve çok etnikli toplumsal yapının süregeldiği Amerika Birleşik
Devletleri'nde, özellikle eşit vatandaşlık hakları talep eden Afroamerikalıların
Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu ile kitlesel bir kimlik kazanan mücadelesi, İkinci
Dünya Savaşı sonrasında oluşan küresel sosyopolitik iklimden bağımsız
düşünülmemelidir. Savaş sonrası dönem ele alındığında özellikle 1950'ler ve
1960'ların ilk yarısı, toplumsal hayatta endişe, iyimserlik ve değişim yıllarıydı.
Yurttaşlık Hareketi bir bakıma, eşitliği ve toplumsal paydaşlığı yücelten ülkenin
kuruluş ideallerini tüm dünyada geçerli kılma girişimiydi. Siyasi hegemonyanın
araçları tarafından Afroamerikalılara uygulanan toplumsal tecrit politikası büyük
bir dönüşüme yol açarak Birleşik Devletler sathında özgürlük ve eşitlik idealinin
kristalleşmesine ön ayak oldu. Bu bağlamda, Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu,
yakın Birleşik Devletler tarihinde süregelen ırkçılığı ve kitlesel aşağılamayı
sadece sembolik olarak değil aynı zamanda fiili ve mental olarak ortadan
kaldırmayı amaçlayan bir panzehir olarak kabul edilebilir. Gündelik hayatın
fırsat eşitsizliklerini kavramsallaştıran ve çerçevelendiren hareket, geniş toplum
kesimlerine hitap edebilmiştir. Bu açıdan yaklaşıldığında, Martin Luther King’in
örgütlü ve ortak paydalarda buluşmuş bir toplum düzeni çağrısı yeniden ele
alınmalıdır. Sözü edilen demokratik kitle örgütlerinin ve sık sık düzenlenen halk
forumlarının Afroamerikalılar nezdinde hem makbul vatandaşlık arayışını hem
de ulusal aidiyetlerini güçlendirdiği öne sürülebilir. Bunun ışığında, muteber
toplum ve pasif direniş konseptleri Afroamerikalıların politik ve toplumsal
statüko tarafından maruz kalacağı potansiyel meşruiyet kısıtlamalarının önüne
geçmiştir. Aksine, sosyal bütünleşmeyi teşvik ederek yakın Birleşik Devletler
tarihindeki kırılmaları yaratan söz konusu konseptler ortak geleceği inşa edecek
ulus bilincinin ve Amerikalılık nosyonunun güçlenmesinde etkili olmuştur.
Dahası, 20. Yüzyılın en uzun süren toplumsal direniş örneklerinden biri olarak
Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu, pasif direniş ve muteber toplum konseptleri
tarafından karakterize edilen içeriği ve yöntemi sayesinde Afroamerikalılar ve
Beyazlar arasında ayrılıkçı değil birleştirici bir rol üstlenmiştir. Bu durum,
farklılıklara dayalı bir toplumsal yapıdan teşekkül eden Birleşik Devletler ‘de
sosyal entegrasyonu motive edici bir unsur olarak dikkat çekmektedir. Bu
çerçevede, boykotun yarattığı toplumsal iklimde Martin Luther King’in ikame
182
ettiği konseptler sayesinde yeni kimliğine erişen Yurttaşlık Hareketi, Birleşik
Devletler sathında son yıllarda Afroamerikalıların karşı karşıya kaldığı çifte
standartlar ve ayrımcılıklar göz önüne alındığında tarihsel bir olguya
dönüşmüştür. Ötekileştirilmeye ve marjinalleştirilmeye çalışılan kitle, yakın
ABD tarihinin şekillenmesinde oynadığı rolün yanı sıra gelecekte de Amerikan
toplumunun yerleşeceği sosyopolitik düzlemde belirleyici bir tarihsel misyon
üstlenecektir.
18