Group #5: Shaun Wong(29), Benjamin Ung(28), Timothy Chuah(27), Tan Yu Xiang(26), Tan Teik Jun(25), Matthew Tan(24)
Montgomery Bus Boycott and Scottsboro Trials
a. What event sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott? (Shaun Wong)
b. Which two organizations were primarily involved in coordinating the boycott? (Benjamin Ung)
c. Why did the boycott catapult Martin Luther King, Jr. to prominence? (Timothy Chuah)
d. How is the Scottsboro trial related to the trial in TKAM? (Tan Yu Xiang)
e. State the specifics of each trial and why they were significant. (Tan Teik Jun)
f. In what way are these trials similar? (Matthew Tan)
a) In Montgomery, buses used a system of segregation, where whites were seated from the front of the bus filling all the way to the back, and vice versa for the blacks. When a bus was full, priority was given to the whites, so if a white entered a bus full of blacks, a black had to give up his seat for the white. What sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott was when Rosa Park, refused to give up her seat to a white man as she was tired of giving in. She had no intention of causing any trouble, but her momentary folly led to a huge chain of events, being arrested in 1 December 1955, which eventually led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
b) The two organisations were the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and the Montgomery Improvement Association. These organisations started the boycott movement and organised the entire boycott.
c) Because of the black community's eagerness to comply with the boycott–and because of the bus company's refusal to capitulate- community leaders held a meeting on the afternoon of the boycott to plan an extended protest. It named itself the Montgomery Improvement Association ,and elected Martin Luther King its president. Though only twenty-six, he showed great promise as a leader, and was enough to stand outside old local political rivalries. From the beginning, and throughout the most trying, violent events of the long 381 days of the boycott, King always emphasized the protest in Christian principles. The blacks never engaged in any form of violence when treated with it. This set the tone for all of King's subsequent campaigns, which let King to prominence.
d) The Scottsboro trial and the trial in TKAM are somewhat related. The author of TKAM, Harper Lee was inspired by the Scottsboro trial and she also used the Scottsboro trial as a reference to write the trial in her book as the specifics of both the trials are somewhat similar.
e) e) For the Montgomery bus boycott, the friction started when a black lady refused to surrender her seat to a black man, which did not comply with ‘regulations’ (refer to question a) then, resulting in her arrest, which in turn resulted in the stirred feeling from the black community, and subsequently the boycott. The boycott happened on Monday, the same day of the judging of the case, it crippled the financial deficit for the Montgomery public transit system, since the bulk of the paying customers were the blacks. Technically, the black people should be getting the priority. Notably, the protest continued even after Monday as it was effective in causing economic distress to the Montgomery buses. A short excerpt from the flyer circulated among the black community: “...This has to be stopped. Negroes have rights too, for if Negroes did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are Negro, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother. This woman's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial... “ The Scottsboro trial took place in the 1930s in northern Alabama, which was sparked off when nine black men were charged with rape of a white girl. The jury ignored evidences against the white women, for instance, that no physical injuries were present, one of the alleged victims also admitted that the rape story was in fact fabricated and asserted that none of the Scottsboro Boys ever touched either of the white women. But the juries still found them guilty for all 3 trials. 4 of the 9 dropped out of charge, all but 2 served prison, the rest were tragically killed. The defendants had been denied an impartial jury, fair trial, fair sentencing, and effective counsel. Why were the trials significant? Both trials show how discriminating and intolerant of other races then, and are against the white people’s unfair treatment of their black counterparts. Today, it is still widely considered to be an extreme reference of miscarriage of justice, leading to the end of all-white juries in the south. On the side note, the Montgomery trial was the first victory of US Civil right movement :D [with background references from the wikipedia article on montgomery bus boycott.]
f) In the Scottsboro trial, the blacks were accused of raping a white. There was not a fair trial as the jury who decides whether they were guilty or innocent were all whites. They were biased to the white and convicted the blacks for rape without any evidence. Similarly, in To Kill A Mocking Bird, a black man was convicted of raping a white woman with no evidence and the jury was all whites. Like the Scottsboro trial, there was also alot of lynching by angry mobs. These are the similarities between the Scottsboro trial and the trial in To Kill A Mocking Bird.
Reflection:
For the most part as I was reading through about the boycott and the trials, what question that kept resounding in my head was, "What is wrong with these people?". In the boycott, I do understand the 'racism' in it, in that the system of whites and blacks seating in a bus, but what really invoked feelings of anger towards the whites, were that they actually had a black woman arrested just because she did not give up her seat! I mean, even if you wanted to be racist, and wanted to inflict baised punishments other people, this was too extreme! Similarly in Mississippi Burning, the whites were constantly harassing the blacks for no apparent reason, and when one of the blacks finally got brave enough to speak up and bring the whites to court, justice was not done, with the jury and judge both all being whites. For the Scottboro trials, my heart really go to these men, to be convicted for a crime you commited is one thing, to confess to a crime and be convicted for it is another. I can certainly imagine the horrible conditions they were put through, which included being moved to another jail deemed "unfit for white prisoners". What's going on here both in the Scottboro trials and Mississippi Burning, is that the blacks almost never had a chance to go against the whites in a lawful manner, as the law itself was corrupted!
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