The Baton Rouge bus boycott was a boycott of city buses launched on June 19, 1953, by African-American residents of

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the county seat, parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, E ...

who were seeking integration of the system. They made up about 80% of the ridership of the city buses in the early 1950s but, under

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sou ...

rules, black people were forced to sit in the back of the bus, even when the front of the bus was empty. State laws prohibited black citizens from owning private buses outside the city systems.

Background

Activists proposed to the city that black riders would be allowed to ride in the front of the bus, but voluntarily refrain from sitting next to whites. The City Council initially approved this concept and passed Ordinance 222. But the cadre of all-white bus drivers refused to enforce the ordinance, and they went on strike. The ordinance was overturned after the strike went on four days. The drivers returned to work after the Louisiana Attorney General overturned the ordinance and declared victory. Rev. T. J. Jemison helped organize the United Defense League and a bus boycott after the integration ordinance was overturned. Black residents met in four mass meetings and raised $6,000 for the boycott in just two days. About 14 residents refused to board the city's buses and instead accepted rides in free taxis set up by the community and in private car pools. About 25 private cars were used to transport people while the boycott was in force. After six hours, the boycott ended when the city passed Ordinance 251. It directed that black riders would fill the bus from the rear forward and whites from the front toward the back. Blacks and whites were prohibited from sitting next to each other in the same row. Two front seats were declared off-limits to black riders, and only black riders could occupy the wide rear seat that spanned the back of the bus. The boycott had a very small impact on the city's transportation system and on the broader

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. Rev.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

became aware of the bus boycott and spoke with Rev. Jemison about the fight for social justice in Baton Rouge. He especially wanted to discuss the free car ride system, which was a key part of enforcing the Baton Rouge bus boycott. The 1953 Baton Rouge Bus boycott served as a model for the internationally known 1955

Montgomery bus boycott The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...

. The 1953 Baton Rouge Bus boycott also inspired residents to mobilize around other issues, such as securing the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

. In recognition of the importance of the 1953 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott in African-American history and world history, the

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...

Society's "Bench by the Road" project selected Baton Rouge as a site to memorialize. The project places benches at sites with historical significance for people of African ancestry. The permanent site of the bench commemorating the bus boycott is the McKinley High School Alumni Center.

References

External links

Civil Rights Movement History & Timeline, 1953The first Civil Rights Bus Boycott , African American RegistryRemembering the Boycott
*Martha White, 99, Dies; Before Rosa Parks, She Sparked a Bus Boycot

{{Authority control 1953 in Louisiana History of Baton Rouge, Louisiana Bus transportation in Louisiana Boycotts Civil rights movement Civil rights protests in the United States 1953 protests African-American history in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Anti-black racism in the United States Protests in the United States June 1953 events in the United States History of racism in Louisiana

Background

Further reading

References

External links