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What did the US Supreme Court rule about the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
The case Browder v. Gayle, (1956) challenged the state of Alabama and city of Montgomery's segregation policy on intrastate bus travel that resulted in the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott. Although Rosa Parks was not a party to the case, her December 1, 1955, arrest for refusing to allow a white man to take her seat was the catalyst for both the boycott and the Browder case.
The US Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in the case of Browder v. Gayle, on November 13, 1956, and declared segregation on buses unconstitutional. On December 20, 1956, the city of Montgomery received a court order mandating integration.
Case Citation:
Browder v. Gayle, 352 US 903 (1956)
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoThe US Supreme Court declared segregation on buses unconstitutional, affirming (agreeing with) the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama decision that the state and municipal statutes promoting segregation were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ordered the buses to be integrated.
Explanation
Most people associate the the Montgomery bus boycott and Supreme Court case with Rosa Parks, who was arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing to stand so a white person could take bus seat (which, incidentally, was in the official "colored" section of the bus). While Parks' arrest did spur the famous civil rights action, her case was tied up in the Alabama state courts and was never heard by the US Supreme Court.
In order to move to the discrimination issue into the federal courts, local attorneys Fred Gray and Charles Langford consulted with famed NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys Robert Carter and Thurgood Marshall, who had led the successful challenge to the "separate but equal" doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education, (1954). Marshall and Carter suggested filing a new suit on behalf of a hand-selected group of plaintiffs who had experienced abuse and discrimination in the Montgomery bus system. Gray and Langford approached Aurelia Browder and three other women, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith, and convinced them to become plaintiffs in a federal civil action law suit. The named defendants were the Board of Commissioners and the Chief of Police of the City of Montgomery, the members of the Alabama Public Service Commission, The Montgomery City Lines, Inc., and two of its employee drivers. The named defendant, "Gayle," was William A. Gayle, mayor of Montgomery.
The illegal state statutes and city code all had provisions similar to the Montgomery City Code of 1952 cited (in part), below:
Chapter 6, Section 11
"Any employee in charge of a bus operated in the city shall have the powers of a police officer of the city while in actual charge of any bus, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the preceding section, and it shall be unlawful for any passenger to refuse or fail to take a seat among those assigned to the race to which he belongs, at the request of any such employee in charge, if there is such a seat vacant."
On February 1, 1956, Fred Gray filed suit in US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, seeking a permanent injunction against the city's bus segregation policy.
US District Courts are trial courts, where both sides have an opportunity to present evidence and witness testimony. Testifying as a witness, the President of the Alabama Public Service Commission admitted that on April 24, 1956, he sent a telegram to the National City Lines of Chicago, of which the Montgomery City Lines, Inc., is a subsidiary, reading as follows:
"As President of the Alabama Public Service Commission, elected by the people of Alabama, sworn to uphold the segregation laws of this state, which include all forms of public transportation, I hereby defy ruling handed down by the United States Supreme Court ordering desegregation on public carriers. Alabama state law requiring segregation of the races on buses still stands. All public carriers in Alabama are hereby directed to strictly adhere to all present existing segregation laws in our state or suffer the consequences."
The arrogance and defiance expressed in that telegram was typical of southern white bureaucrats and business people in that era.
On June 4, 1956, the three-judge panel reviewing Browder v. Gayle (142 F. Supp. 707 (1956)) declared segregation unconstitutional by a vote of 2-1, determining that the "separate but equal" precedent established in Plessy v. Ferguson,(1896) "... can no longer be safely followed as a correct statement of the law." While this followed the Court's thinking in Brown v. Board of Education, (1954), only the single dissenting judge cited the case, claiming Brown only addressed public education, and left the "separate but equal" doctrine intact in other areas of life.
The two judges who found in favor of the plaintiffs wrote: "We hold that the statutes and ordinances requiring segregation of the white and colored races on the motor buses of a common carrier of passengers in the City of Montgomery and its police jurisdiction violate the due process and equal protection of the law clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
Gayle, et al. appealed the case to the US Supreme Court, which denied the city's request for a hearing, instead affirming the lower court ruling on November 13, 1956. The decision was unanimous, but the Court did not issue a written opinion.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was standing trial in Montgomery municipal court for organizing carpools in violation of a 1921 Conspiracy law that prohibited boycotts against lawful businesses, when he received news of the Court's decision.
Although Dr. King was found guilty and fined $500 for helping to organize the boycott, he recognized the Supreme Court decision as a triumph over segregationist Jim Crow laws. In a speech given at Holt Street Baptist Church on November 14, Dr. King announced the decision was ''a reaffirmation of the principle that separate facilities are inherently unequal, and that the old Plessy Doctrine of separate but equal is no longer valid, either sociologically or legally.''
The city applied for, and was denied, a rehearing on December 17, 1956. On December 20, 1956, the city of Montgomery received a court order mandating integration of buses. Dr. King announced an end to the 381-day boycott the same day, stating, "The year-old protest against city buses is officially called off, and the Negro citizens of Montgomery are urged to return to the buses tomorrow morning on a non-segregated basis."
Case Citation:
Browder v. Gayle, 352 US 903 (1956)
For more information on the tangle of cases revolving around the Montgomery bus boycott, see Related Questions and Related Links, below.
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How many days did the Montgomery bus boycott last?
The Montgomery bus boycott began on December 5, 1955 and ended 381 days later on December 20, 1956, after the US Supreme Court declared segregated busing unconstitutional in Browder v. Gayle, (1956).
Where did the boycott take place?
Which boycott? The most famous civil rights boycott was the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in Montgomery, Alabama, but African-Americans in Atlanta and a number of other cities also held boycotts of public transportation after the US Supreme Court overturned Montgomery bus segregation statutes as unconstitutional in 1956.
How long was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
The Montgomery bus boycott ended on December 20, 1956, the day the city of Montgomery received a court order mandating integration of the buses. The boycott began on December 5, 1955 in reaction to Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to give her bus seat to a white man. In all it lasted 381 days.
What year did Doctor King succesfully lead a year long boycott acheiving intergration of Montgomery Alabama busses?
The Montgomery bus boycott began on 1 December 1955 and ended in victory with a US Supreme Court ruling on 20 December 1956.
What changes did the supreme court make after the Montgomery Bus Boycott was finished?
On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling. This victory led to a city ordinance that allowed black bus passengers to sit virtually anywhere they wanted, and the boycott officially ended December 20, 1956. The boycott of the buses had lasted for 381 days. Martin Luther King, Jr. capped off the victory with a magnanimous speech to encourage acceptance of the decision. The Montgomery Bus Boycott also had ramifications that reached far beyond the desegregation of public buses and provided more than just a positive answer to the Supreme Court's action against racial segregation. The Montgomery Bus Boycott reverberated throughout the United States and stimulated the national Civil Rights Movement.
How many days did the Montgomery bus boycott last and who led it?
The Montgomery bus boycott began on December 5, 1955 and ended 381 days later on December 20, 1956, after the US Supreme Court declared segregated busing unconstitutional in Browder v. Gayle, (1956).Martin Luther King, Jr., led the boycott with the assistance of the NAACP and many church pastors.
Why did the Montgomery bus boycott last so long?
The reason the Montgomery bus boycott lasted more than a year, from December 5, 1955 until December 20, 1956, is that the city refused to integrate buses until the US Supreme Court declared its policy was unconstitutional in the case of Browder v. Gayle,(1956). Although the Court's decision was released on November 13, 1956, the city didn't desegregate until it was served with a court order on December 20.
What did the supreme court rule on November 13 1956?
On November 13, 1956 the US Supreme Court rules that segregated busing was nnconstitutional.
What did the Supreme Court declare to be unconstitutional in 1956 because of Martin Luther King?
The US Supreme Court declared segregation on intrastate buses unconstitutional in Browder v. Gayle, 352 US 903 (1956). This ruling ended the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott lead by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
What year did Martin Luter King Jr. boycott?
It wasn't just his boycott because all the other African Americans helped boycott by not using public transportation such as buses. Instead, they walked. The boycott is called the Montgomery Bus Boycott from December 1, 1955 to December 20, 1956 when the Supreme Court ruled that segregated bus are unconstitutional.
In December of 1956, the Supreme Court ended the bus boycott by ruling that?
Alabama’s segregation laws were unconstitutional.
When were the Montgomery Alabama buses desegregated?
The Montgomery, Alabama, city buses were desegregated on December 20, 1956, as the result of a court order arising from the Supreme Court's decision in Browder v. Gayle, (1956).
