Racism
in the US is a controversial topic to discuss, especially events in the 20th
century. Even
during the second world war, the military segregated whites from
black soldiers. This racial division carried into the 1950s, which became a catalyst
for Civil Rights movements across the country. The most famous boycott for the
civil rights movement is Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to
the back of the bus in Montgomery,
Alabama in 1955. However, there was a similar yet less known version of that
event.
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| Figure 2. A protestor directing other African Americans to use the free ride. Image courtesy of AAERG. |
In
1953, two years earlier, there was a boycott known as the Baton Rouge Bus
Boycott of 1953. This event was the first large-scale boycott and inspired the
Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott was started by the 1950
decision by the Baton Rouge City Council by supporting the financially strapped
municipal bus company by revoking the licenses of nearly forty competing
black-owned companies, which led African Americans using the segregated buses operated by city-owned bus company.
80 percent of the riders were African American, and there were forced to sit in the back of the buses while the front seats were reserved for white passengers. On February 25, 1953, the Baton Rouge city-parish council meeting, voted to end the city's code to allow blacks to occupy the same seat or sit on the front of a white passenger.
It
abolished reserved seating but required blacks to board the buses from the back
to the front and white passengers from front to back. However, the law went
unenforced and for nearly three months, the front ten bus seats remained
reserved for white passengers, even on routes going through black
neighborhoods.
As the boycott grew, the Baton Rouge
City’s Bus transportation was starting to face financial problems
and as a
result, black and white leaders negotiated to end the boycott. After the
meetings, Rev. Jemison broke the news to a mass meeting held at Memorial
Stadium and although some African Americans applauded the deal, there were some
that wanted to continue the boycott.
In
the end, how this event became controversial to the early civil rights movement
is because the leader, Rev. T.J. Jemison, capitulated too quickly to the city
demands. The reverend agreed
and the boycott came to an end. The compromise was the city bus companies
reduced the
number of white seats but retained the rule that African Americans had to sit
in the back or stand, even if there was a seat saved for a white passenger was
empty.
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| Figure 4. Rev. T.J. Jemison escorting Mary Briscoe and Sandra Ann Jones after they were released on bond. Image courtesy of NBC. |
How
this relates to Gaudium et Spes, can
be interpreted as this. The Baton Rouge City Council kept buses segregated by
color of their skin and as such, many black people were upset that they were
being forced to comply with a rule that made them get up from their seats in
favor of white people. As a result, they protested that it would not just
benefit the black community of Baton Rouge, but for all blacks in the United
States and as the city’s rules were abusing that authority not to enforce that law.
Figure 5. Reverand
T.J. Jemison shakes hands with Dr. Matin Luther King Jr. Image courtesy of Ernest Richie.
 |
Figure 6. Protestors
Carpooling in protesting the Baton Rouge City's Bus Segregation. Image courtesy
of the BlackPast. |
In conclusion, although this event was largely forgotten to
the times of history, this was the catalyst that sparked the Civil Rights
Movements in the coming years and the eventual “victory” of the Civil Rights in
the 1960’s.
After reading your post, the reason I believe you do not here much of the 1953 Baton Rouge bus boycott is because did it really accomplish their goal. From your post I took away that they took revoked the licenses of about 40 black bus companies and making to where the African Americans had to ride segregated bus where they sat in back and the front seats where whites. In the outcome of this protest the result was still the same. Blacks had to seat in back of bus and whites in the front. The protest wasn't really a success but you are it did lead to more protests that where successful. The connection to Gauium et spes is just like you said which is citizens defending their fellow citizens right from abuse of the authority. This protest is similar to the Freedom Riders protest in where they protested the segregated bus terminals. Your post connection to Gaudium et spes connects to my post of Little Rock Nine and they both pull from Gaudium et spes the same connection which was it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and the rights of their fellow citizens against the abuse of the authority. Finally, your post was very good and got to the keys points of the protest, well done.
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear about events so similar to one of my own topics, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I find it interesting that Civil Rights leaders were so quick to give into the demands of the city. Though a boycott of this type is very difficult, the protestors of the Civil Rights movement were known for their resolve in the face of hardship. I wonder how much interaction there was between Baton Rouge and Montgomery. I am sure that the African-American residents of Montgomery would have been aware of what took place in Baton Rouge, but I'm not sure if there was direct contact between the organizers or not, as I saw nothing of the sort in my research. Thanks for picking a topic I had not heard of before.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of this particular boycott before reading your post, which makes me think about how it relates to the Oregon State protest that I made a post about. Both protests were largely forgotten by history, even though they were very important and influential at the time. In this case, this is largely because of the much more famous Montgomery bus boycott that happened a few years later, while the Oregon State protest is remembered as just one of several racially-charged protests that took place on college campuses in the late 1960s. I think that this is a common theme for a lot of the protests we've looked at in class, they are often either lumped together with several similar protests as part of a larger movement or simply overshadowed by a larger protest about the same issues. While this certainly effects how we learn about these protests, I don't think that it detracts from the importance of the individual protests. While there is often one large protests that captures all the headlines and is remembered in history books, I think we've seen that in order to make real, lasting change one must change the beliefs of the masses. This is where we see the importance of smaller protests like the Baton Rouge bus boycott and the Oregon State protest, acting as a sort of grass-roots movement to change the minds of their local communities.
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