381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story
The boycott was initially a one-day protest to mark Rosa Parks’ December 5th court appearance and to register the weariness of those who endured daily assaults to their humanity. African Americans who rode Montgomery’s buses were considered second class, defenseless against humiliation and undeserving of basic respect from drivers and white passengers.
After Parks’ arrest, professors, doctors, lawyers and preachers stood alongside students, domestic workers and blue-collar laborers and refused to board the buses. A volunteer-based transportation system was developed and effectively shut down the public transit system. The boycott, which lasted 381 days, evolved into a strategic act of faith and determination that galvanized a people who refused to give up hope.
Photographs, quotes and historical text are combined in a multidimensional collage to convey the dynamism of the civil rights movement. Visitors immerse themselves in the language, imagery and emotional response to the nation’s growing awareness that its founding tenet “all men are created equal” could possibly apply to the entire population.
381 Days documents a key victory for the use of non-violent action to empower social and political change that influenced subsequent, powerful events such as the Woolworth lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro, N.C., the Freedom Rides, the Birmingham demonstrations and the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.