The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

by R. Conrad Stein and Conrad R. Stein

Book Overview

Discusses how the black community of Montgomery, Alabama, staged the 1955 boycott to end segregation on public buses. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0516046977
• ISBN13: 9780516046976
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Children's Press(CT)
• Length: 31 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Age Range: 8 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 6

Customer Reviews

An account of one of the greatest events in the history of the United States, and it all started wit

One of the greatest events in the history of the United States began rather quietly on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1, 1955 a quiet seamstress named Rosa Parks was on her way home. In the strictly segregated buses of the time, when the bus was full, a black person was forced to give up their seat to a white person. However, on this day, Rosa Parks became an American hero when she refused to do so. In this case, her act of courage and refusal became the tipping point that led to the end of segregation laws. In protest, local black leaders organized a one-day boycott, which was far more successful than they had thought possible. They managed to keep it going until the managers of the city bus line gave in to nearly all of their demands. It also drew national and international attention and a new black leader named Martin Luther King Junior emerged. His tactic of nonviolence, taken from Mohandas Gandhi of India, proved very effective. When the rest of the country saw blacks being beaten and sprayed with powerful fire hoses, it was sickened and the people were forced to confront and overcome the racial inequalities. No American school child should graduate from elementary school lacking knowledge of the courage of Rosa Parks and the consequences of the Montgomery bus boycott. This book is an excellent way to satisfy that requirement.