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The emergence of a leader:
Martin Luther King and the Montgomery bus boycott

The Montgomery bus boycott - 1955
In Alabama like most southern states black Americans were expected to sit at the back of a bus and give up their places for whites .
Rosa Parkes was a 40 year old seamstress who took up her place in the middle of the bus. She refused to give up her seat this led to her being ejected from the bus and being arrested.
As a result there was outrage in the black community - local black leaders met and planned a boycott.
Martin Luther King (MLK) was a local Baptist minister and was asked to be the spokesman - his ideas were influenced by Gandhi and non-violent protest.
The boycott also has car pools where groups of blacks would share cars to get to work, also there were organised walks to work.
This boycott lasted a year and the bus company lost 65% of its income.
December 1956 - the supreme court ruled that segregation law was unlawful
- the boycott ended in success

The importance of the Montgomery bus boycott
A) Emergence of MLK
B) Showed success of non-violent protest and direct action - legal action was a slow process whereas challenging racial discrimination directly through non-violent protest brought rapid action.
C) Strength of community - pulled all sections of the black community together and this helped lead to rapid change.