67 2 Communication The Montgomery Bus Boycott Sometimes it’s not enough to protest using words. Sometimes a situation can get so desperate that action is needed to get the message across. In the 1950s a series of such actions led to big changes in American society. In 1865, slavery was abolished in the USA. However, it would still take many years until African Americans were treated equally. After the American Civil War, authorities in the The South introduced laws to segregate black people from white people in schools and public places such as restaurants and buses. This segregation went on for almost 100 years. Montgomery, the capital of the state of Alabama, was a typical southern city where these laws were strictly followed. One segregation law forced black people and white people to sit in separate parts of the bus. If the white section of the bus was full, black passengers had to give up their to abolish – afnema to segregate – aðskilja The so-called “Jim Crow” laws stated that African Americans should be “separate but equal”. Black people were discriminated against in courts, in the educational system, and the laws also made it more difficult for black people to vote during elections. Pools of Defiance (2001), Colin Bootman
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