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Martin Luther King. Become the Inspiration
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
A non-violent rebellion
MONTGOMERY, Holt Street Baptist Church. 1955
PLAY ME
Together with Nixon and 40 other leaders of the African-American community,
and at the suggestion of L. Roy Bennett, president of the Interdenominational Alliance,
we decided to implement a non-violent protest system based on boycotts. On the 5th of December 1955, no blacks would use the buses. The turnout was very high, several buses that usually ran full were completely empty. On the same day, Parks was sentenced. The MIA ( Montgomery Improvement Association)
was born that evening in the Holt Street Baptist Church and I became its President. The bus boycott became more and more frequent and so did the turnout itself. Everyone got around as much as they could on foot or with the help of African-American taxi drivers, who had lowered their fares to the level of bus fares,
or with ordinary citizens who willingly lent their support to the protest. Clyde Sellers of the municipal commission, who was opposed to our initiatives, recalled the existence of a law that established a minimum fare for taxi rides, 45 cents as opposed to the 10 cents required, which the taxi drivers were obliged to respect in the following days.
Then, with the support of the community, we managed to find a workable way of getting around the city. On the 26th of January 1956, while driving, I decided to give a lift to some black people on the road. I noticed that I was being followed and I was very careful to obey the highway code. I was, however, stopped, arrested and imprisoned.
Sezione 3
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5
A non-violent rebellion
MONTGOMERY, Holt Street Baptist Church. 1955
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WASHINGTON, Supreme Court of the United States. 1957
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