In 1953, the Rev. T.J. Jemison, a Baptist pastor in Baton Rouge, La., persuaded the city council to abolish a rule reserving the first 10 rows of buses for white riders, forcing blacks to the rear even if there were empty seats in the front and none in back. When bus drivers went on strike to protest the change, Jemison led what historians believe was the civil rights movement's first large-scale bus boycott, organizing carpools to provide alternative transport for blacks. That eight-day protest led the city to adopt a system by which black riders could sit anywhere but in the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
