MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA - The 60th anniversary of the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott and in celebration Alabama State University is hosting a week long schedule of events beginning December 1.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. The protest began on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person until December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional.
Alabama State University was at the heart of many events leading up to and surrounding the Bus Boycott. Instructor Jo Ann Robinson and a group of her students are credited with making copies of the flyers announcing the boycott on a mimeograph machine in the basement of Council Hall. ASU students and employees helped to distribute the flyers and spread the word across Montgomery to boycott city transportation in the wake of the arrest of Rosa Parks.
"The goal is to celebrate and educate," said Zillah Fluker, ASU's Vice President of Institutional Advancement. "This year's celebration will focus on highlighting the 'Law' of the movement, the 'Machine' behind the movement, the 'Woman' who sparked the movement, the 'students' of the movement, the 'Music' that drove the movement and the 'Energy' of the movement."