Who was arrested during the Montgomery bus boycott?

Answer 1

Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Ms. Parks was well-respected within the African-American community, arousing outrage at the way she was treated by the bus company and police. African-American community leaders, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., met to discuss the situation on December 4, and planned a one-day boycott of the Montgomery public transit system for December 5, 1955. What started as a one-day event eventually stretched 381 days, until December 20, 1956, as the community determined not to ride the buses again until they were integrated.

Rosa Parks unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the segregation law in the Alabama state courts, where the appeals process threatened to drag on for years.

Local attorneys Fred Gray and Charles Langford consulted with NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys, Robert Carter and Thurgood Marshall, whose successful campaign against segregation in education lead to the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education,(1954). Carter and Marshall suggested choosing a new group of plaintiffs who had been discriminated against and abused by the busing company.

The resulting suit, Browder v. Gayle, (1956), resulted in the Supreme Court affirming the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama's ruling that the bus segregation was unconstitutional.


For more information about Browder v. Gayle, (1956) and Rosa Parks' court cases, see Related Questions, below.

Answer 2

State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr.,(1956)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and 89 other community leaders were indicted on charges of violating a 1921 Conspiracy law that prohibited boycotting lawful businesses. Dr. King was found guilty of conspiracy, but none of the others went to trial. King was fined $500 plus $500 court costs, or sentenced to 386 days in jail.

Dr. King decided to appeal the case, converting the sentence into 386 days in jail; however, he remained out on his own recognizance while the matter was under consideration. The Alabama Court of Appeals rejected King's hearing in April 1957, because his lawyers missed the 60-day filing deadline. He ultimately paid the the fine, in December 1957.

The case related to the Montgomery bus boycott that reached the US Supreme Court was Browder v. Gayle, (1956). Dr. King wasn't a party to that suit.


For more information about Browder v. Gayle, (1956) and related information, see Related Questions, below.

Answer 3

Dr. King and 89 other community leaders were indicted on charges of violating a 1921 Conspiracy law that prohibited boycotting lawful businesses. Dr. King was found guilty of conspiracy, but none of the others went to trial. King was fined $500 plus $500 court costs, or sentenced to 386 days in jail.

Dr. King decided to appeal the case, converting the sentence into 386 days in jail; however, he remained out on his own recognizance while the matter was under consideration. The Alabama Court of Appeals rejected King's hearing in April 1957, because his lawyers missed the 60-day filing deadline. He ultimately paid the the fine, in December 1957.

The case related to the Montgomery bus boycott that reached the US Supreme Court was Browder v. Gayle, (1956). Dr. King wasn't a party to that suit.

Case:

State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr., (1956)

For more information about Browder v. Gayle, (1956) and related information, see Related Questions, below.