The Civil Rights Movement of 1955

Prior to 1955, African-Americas in the south as well as the north had been denied the rights of fellow white Americans. Rights that had been granted to them under the 13^th, 14^th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution a law which white people wrote and were supposed to uphold. In the mid-1900’s, African-Americans began to challenge their stance in American society, no longer would they be viewed as second-rate citizens. This was due to the revival of the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement, which began with the courageous actions of one woman in Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1^st, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year old seamstress refused to yield her seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested on the spot and fined fourteen dollars. Her bold courage issued forth a domino effect of non-violent protests that would break down the iron gate of segregation. As we read her story and the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott first hand from the articles published in the New York Times, we saw that her actions and the boycott that ensued was the most significant event of 1955. We will discuss the differences in the news reports that we gathered on the event and the various articles that have been written within the past ten years, after the end of the Civil Rights Movement. One will see, as we did, that there is a distinct difference in viewpoints of the authors of these respective pieces.

As stated earlier, The Montgomery Bus Boycott started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. This type of event rarely happened in the south, which thought of African-Americans as lesser human beings. Montgomery’s black community soon issued their resounding approval of her action by rallying in front of City Hall demanding an end to segregated buses across the city. Without delay, local black ministers Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy organized a citywide boycott of the bus line. Because the bus line was privately owned and its main patrons were African-American, the bus line nearly went bankrupt as a result of the loss of business. Despite their losses, the bus company refused to cave in to the demands of the boycott organizers. They claimed they were upholding the city’s segregation policies. Boycott organizers demanded that African-Americans be granted the full privileges of white patrons on the buses. After six months of court cases, a U.S. District Court ruled that segregation of the buses interfered with the 14^th Amendment to the US Constitution. In December of 1956, the Court issued an injunction to integrate the buses, which set the tone for non-violent protests to be held.

When searching for sources, we chose a series of articles from December 3^rd, 1955 to December 22^nd, 1956. Each article reported on a unique event of the boycott, which we felt was important in the unfolding of the process of the buses becoming integrated. These were the best sources for an informational perspective on the boycott. However, the most interesting difference between these articles and the other sources we gathered were the different attitudes towards the event. It is quite obvious that in 1955 the New York Times (the nation’s premier news source) would view such an event as significant, yet still keep it strictly as a news report. They would not have had an opinion simply because it was a news report and most likely the writers were white. Our other sources were a variety of articles, as well as books written about Montgomery and the organization of the bus boycott. Each of these sources speaks from the standpoint of someone who has witnessed the impact of the bus boycott at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the impact of the Civil Rights Movement in its entirety. One must analyze the difference between the various viewpoints of the authors of these sources because each outlook presents a different perspective as to how America was greatly altered by this event.

The articles from the New York Times don’t say much at first glance. One might often think that the newspaper should not carry a bias in its tone of voice, but I have found over years of reading the newspaper, that indeed it does. During this time, the New York Times was America’s largest news source, as television was in its’ stages of infancy. Most of the articles from the Times present an analytical voice, denoting that the article presents both facts and data. Although the author provides no direct opinion, a tone of alarm still exists. Most of these articles most likely appeared in the National news section, which would have probably been the front section. As previously stated, none of these articles were breaking news, but the final article referring to the integration of the bus system appeared as a blurb on the front page with a continuation found later in the section. In 1955 it would have been typical for a northern newspaper to publish such an article on the front page because without a doubt, this marked the first time that a mass peaceful movement changed an unjust law in America. We feel that the authors of these articles do not see these as very momentous occasions, but rather more like an interesting event to report on, as everyone loves to witness confrontation. We feel this way because obviously the Times, based in New York, would present the news from a northern point of view, which would take the viewpoint of a spectator on an issue such as this. The race of the author can also be examined as an important factor in the canalization of the article. In 1955 there were probably not a whole lot of African-American authors writing for the Times or at least this can be assumed. The titles of the articles use the word “Negroes,” as well as when describing the organizers of the boycott, almost as though they were labeling them as rats. The title of a news article would probably not be so condescending if the author were an African-American.

The next set of sources to analyze, consist of a book and an article written for a scholarly review. The author of the article, a professor at the University of Arkansas, has written about the church’s involvement in the organization of the non-violent protest in the South, including the bus boycott. He presents the Civil Rights Movement as a sort of Third Great Awakening (Chappell 584). Clearly this article presents a very different viewpoint on the Civil Rights Movement, than an article written in 1955 for the New York Times. Viewing this article as analytical, rather than factual, offers a viewpoint on how the Civil Rights Movement is viewed in America today. As I stated earlier, the Times used the term ‘Negro’ often. Interestingly enough, this word was absent from the work of a distinguished University professor. The society in which Dr. Chappell lives in views this event as a momentous occasion that should be something that is remembered and therefore celebrated, and not just merely a good news story as the Times viewed it.

The book we found showed us a different perspective on this movement as well. Daybreak of Freedom, written by Stewart Burns presents a mostly factual side to the event, but the author does splice a few opinions of his own on the event. The book covers the years from 1954-57 and reports a great deal of information on the Montgomery Bus Boycott and its participants. Like the previous article, this book holds the view of the Civil Rights Movement from the standpoint of America today, and describes it as the major event that it represents in American society.

One final point we would like to present on this event directly relates to the essay “White Man’s Guilt” by James Baldwin. After careful research we discovered that the authors of all of these sources were indeed white. Now we are making an assumption as to the race identity of the New York Times authors, but we believe it would be safe to say that they would most likely be white. We obtained the data on the race identity of the other authors through searches on the internet. To make an even bigger fuss, we checked into the other sources that we found, but weren’t necessarily mentioned in this paper, and found that the authors of those were white men as well. We feel that Baldwin has outlined a sort of prophecy in his essay; here we are fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement using sources written by white men about the most influential period in black American history. Now, did we exhaust every resource we could on the topic? Of course not, but we feel it is no mere coincidence that we came across twelve sources, all written by white men. Baldwin stated in his essay that white people love to sit around with other white people and talk about the struggle of the black American. Well, here we are, writing a paper about the struggle of African-Americans using sources written by all white males. You can be sure that if Baldwin were to hear this case in court, he’d find us guilty as charged.

Works Cited

“Buses Boycotted over Race Issue” Dec. 5^th, 1955

Phillips, Wayne. Negro Pastors Press Bus Boycott By Preaching Passive Resistance, New York Times, March 22, 1955.

Barrett, George. Bus Integration In Alabama Calm, New York Times, December 21, 1955.

Negro Leaders Arrested In Alabama Bus Boycott. No author

Buses Boycotted Over Race Issue. No author

Negroes Boycott Cripples Bus Line., New York Times, January 7, 1955.

Religious Revivalism in the Civil Rights Movement. No author

Burns, Stewart, ed. Daybreak of Freedom: “The Montgomery Bus Boycott.” Chapel Hill: The University of South Carolina Press, 1997.

Leventhal, Willy S., et al., eds. “The Children Coming On . . . A Retrospective of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.” Montgomery: Black Belt Press, 1998.