People Who Aided in The Boycott
There were many people who helped throughout the process of the entire bus boycott. Here is just a few of those important people who aided in hope of gaining and helping other people gain the equality of freedom they deserved.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King was arrested for starting a boycott and fined $500 with $500 costs. His house was fire-bombed and others involved with MIA were also intimidated. Even though he was treated negatively during these times, he still continued to push forth to be the strong leader he was by not fighting back with violence.
Jo Ann Gibson Robinson
Jo Ann Gibson Robinson was (April 17, 1912-August 29, 1992) was a civil rights activist and educator. She was a professor of English at Alabama State throughout the bus boycott. In Montgomery she joined both the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and the Woman’s Political Council, (WPC). Near the end of 1949, as Robinson was entering a public city bus, she was humiliated by an abusive and racist Montgomery City Line's bus driver, and she set out to use the WPC to target racial seating practices on Montgomery buses. Following Rosa Park’s arrest in December 1955, Robinson played a central role in the start of the protest by producing the pamphlets that spread word of the boycott among the African American citizens of Montgomery.
Edgar Daniel "E.D." Nixon
Nixon was the head of the Montgomery branch of the Pullman Porters union and president of the local NAACP. Long before the famous boycott, Nixon had been campaigning for civil rights, particularly voting rights, working in the black community to get people registered to vote. He was well known for interceding on behalf of those who asked for his help with white office holders, police, and other officials. He organized a group of 750 men who marched to the Montgomery County courthouse in 1940 to attempt to register to vote. He also ran for a seat on the county Democratic executive committee in 1954 and questioned candidates for the Montgomery City Commission on their position on civil rights issues the following year. Nixon is credited for helping to bail Rosa Parks out of jail. He, along with white supporters Clifford and Virginia Durr, bailed her out after a family friend called to tell him she had been arrested. Nixon believed Parks was the ideal candidate to challenge the discriminatory seating policy.