The City of Montgomery is commemorating the 69th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Civil Rights trailblazer, Rosa Parks.
The boycott happened when Black residents refused to ride city buses in Montgomery to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from Dec. 5, 1955 to Dec. 20, 1956. Historians regard the event as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation.
Four days before the boycott began, Parks, a Black woman, was arrested and fined for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Along with Parks, a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr., emerged as a prominent leader of the American civil rights movement.
The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled bus segregation violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, which led to the ending of the bus boycott.
Rosa Parks Day, celebrated on Dec. 1 honors the legacy of Parks. Events on Monday will include a ribbon-cutting for the Holt Street Baptist Church Historical Museum, the site of the mass meeting that launched the Boycott – and the Civil Rights Movement which it spawned. The ribbon-cutting is sponsored by the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce.
Following the ribbon-cutting, attendees can embark on a free private tour of the Historic Museum sponsored by the City of Montgomery. Visitors will enjoy a guided discussion and view never-before-seen artifacts that explain the state of Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950's.
At the end of the tour, visitors will have the opportunity to experience a dramatic reenactment of King’s iconic speech that cemented the need to take action and boycott the transit system. Following the speech, hear from Pastor Willie D. McClung as he accounts the rich heritage and history of the Holt Street Baptist Church, the Movement in Montgomery and Alabama, and the Church’s role in it.
Later in the evening, a 69th anniversary celebration will also be hosted at Holt Street Memorial Baptist Church. The evening event features special guests Reverend Dr. Howard-John Wesley, Pastor John P. Kee, the Montgomery United Mass Choir, and others. Doors open at 5 p.m.
