8 Chapter 4 Riding the Bus

Chapter 4 Riding the Bus Martin started his job as the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on September 1, 1954. In his sermons, he persuaded church members to register to vote. Voting was one way to change unjust laws. He also encouraged them to join the NAACP—the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP is one of the oldest civil rights groups in the United States. It was formed on February 12, 1909. Its purpose is to help minorities get equal and fair treatment when they look for a job, buy a home, or apply to a school. These are just a few examples of civil rights. After living in Montgomery for about a year, Coretta gave birth to a little girl—Yolanda Denise.

Martin called her Yoki for short. Now the Kings were a family. Only two weeks after Yolanda was born, something happened that changed U.S. history. On December 1, 1955, a forty-two-year-old black woman named Rosa Parks got on a bus in Montgomery. Instead of going to the back of the bus, she sat down in a seat at the front. The bus

driver told her to move. But Rosa Parks refused, and she was arrested. ROSA PARKS ROSA PARKS WAS BORN IN TUSKEGEE, ALABAMA, On FEBRUARY 4, 1913. AFTER ROSA'S PARENTS SEPARATED, SHE AND

HER MOTHER MOVED TO THE FARM WHERE ROSA'S GRANDPARENTS LIVED. ROSA WAS HOMESCHOOLED UNTIL SHE WAS ELEVEN. SHE BEGAN HIGH SCHOOL, BUT SHE HAD TO DROP OUT TO TAKE CARE OF HER SICK GRANDMOTHER. IT WASN'T UNTIL AFTER SHE WAS MARRIED THAT SHE FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL. BY 1943, ROSA HAD BECOME ACTIVE In THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. SHE JOINED HER LOCAL NAACP CHAPTER AND THE VOTERS' LEAGUE. ROSA WORKED AS A SEAMSTRESS AT A DEPARTMENT STORE. SHE RODE THE PUBLIC BUS TO AND FROM WORK. AFTER HER ARREST On DECEMBER 1, 1955, SHE SPENT THE NIGHT In JAIL. SOME PEOPLE SAID THAT ROSA DID NOT GIVE UP HER SEAT BECAUSE SHE

WAS TIRED. ROSA SAID THAT THEY WERE RIGHT-SHE WAS TIRED OF GIVING In! ALMOST ONE HUNDRED YEARS EARLIER, THE CIVIL WAR HAD ENDED AND SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED. BLACK PEOPLE WERE NO LONGER SLAVES, BUT In MANY PLACES REAL CHANGE DID NOT COME UNTIL THE 1950S AND 1960S, WHEN MORE BLACK PEOPLE BEGAN DEMANDING THEIR RIGHTS. MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT ROSA PARKS'S PROTEST---THAT ONE LITTLE ACT-WAS THE START OF THE MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

Black leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., met to discuss Rosa Parks's arrest. Martin and the others came up with a plan. They would not ride the city buses to school or to work. This kind of protest is called a boycott. If the blacks of Montgomery stopped riding the buses, then the bus company would lose money. Perhaps then the government would change the laws.