Baton Rouge bus boycott paved way for King's Montgomery effort

Two years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus sparking the historic 1955 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, Blacks in Baton Rouge, La., declined to ride public transportation in protest of that city's segregated bus system. The Baton Rouge bus boycott lasted only eight days, eventually becoming a sidebar in the struggle for equality.

In June, however, it was the main story as civil rights historians and community leaders gathered in Baton Rouge to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the boycott and recognize the significant role it played in the Civil Rights Movement. Though the Baton Rouge boycott never got the media attention of the Montgomery demonstration, it laid the foundation for larger actions.

"This was before Montgomery and Brown v. Board of Education," says Marc Sternberg, chair of the 50th anniversary celebration. "There was a beginning before there was a beginning."

The boycott was organized by the Rev. T. J. Jemison and other community leaders. Jemison didn't think it was fair that many Blacks had to stand up on a bus after cooking and cleaning for their White employers all day. He went to the city council, which agreed and passed an ordinance - Article 222 - allowing Blacks to sit on the bus from back to front. However, the city's bus drivers ignored the ordinance. As a result, Blacks launched a boycott. A "Free Ride" system was instituted in which Blacks refused to pay to ride on segregated buses and carpooled instead.

"It was 100 percent," remembers Jemison, 84. "There was not a single Black riding."

Horatio Thompson, an African American who owned two filling stations in Baton Rouge, donated gas to Blacks who owned cars and taxis.

"I couldn't attend all the rallies and marches. But I wanted to support them," says Thompson, 88. "It was a heck of a sacrifice for me at the time."

Eight days later, however, the boycott was called off and another ordinance - 251 - was passed. The compromise gave Blacks the right to sit on the buses, reserving the first two seats for Whites and the last two seats for Blacks. Anyone could sit in the seats in between.

Jemison says he was pleased with the outcome. Afterward Martin Luther King Jr. called to get advice about organizing a boycott in Montgomery.

"All of this went on before Montgomery. Montgomery got its know-how from us," says Jemison. "Dr. King followed the example we gave in Louisiana."

Copyright Crisis Publishing Company, Incorporated Jul/Aug 2003
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