NEWS

City begins planning for Montgomery Bus Boycott anniversary

Drew Taylor
Montgomery Advertiser

With the conclusion of the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march, the city of Montgomery is now planning how to celebrate its next big civil rights milestone: the 60th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

This December marks the 60th anniversary of one of the key events in the civil rights movement, a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery public transit system after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white and go to the back of the bus. The effort and the ensuing lawsuit led to the integration of the bus system.

Anita Archie, chief-of-staff for Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, said there are many things that need be done between now and December for the anniversary. She said one thing the city would like to do is hold a youth summit to discuss the event's significance, similar to the summit to commemorate the Selma-to-Montgomery march anniversary.

"Right now, it's like a clean sheet of paper, but we know for sure that we would like to do something that is focused on youth empowerment and education, but really focusing on the economic impact on the bus boycott and education our youth on that aspect of economics and education and how that ties in with improving the quality of life," Archie said.

The majority of the city's anniversary events will be coordinated by Michael Briddell, director of public information and external affairs for the city, who said details were being ironed out over which events to start setting up.

"Part of the challenge is that the voting rights march had a set beginning and a set conclusion," Briddell said. "The boycott took place over the course of a year, so we can commemorate some of the events that happened at the start, but I don't know if it lends itself to a dramatic recreating of an event like the last anniversary did, but that's not to say that we won't come up with something special and meaningful."

Archie said one idea the city would like to incorporate is to show how many aspects needed to come into play for the bus boycott to work. Financial strain on the bus system arguably played a large part in increasing the profile of the movement, with an estimated 75 percent of the buses' ridership being African-American.

"When you start a movement that impacts folks financially, that gets people's attention," she said. "What we want to do is try to show that every successful movement has always had some type of financial aspect to it."

Archie said the same practice has been used in movements today, such as groups threatening to boycott business with Indiana after controversial legislation that some said would allow businesses to refuse service to gay people. She said that in the same way economics played to the boycott's advantage, she would like for young people to know about how a business-savvy mind can change someone's life.

"You see where economics plays heavily into social movements, so what we want to do is empower the teens about the power of money on social movements as well as empower them to realize they have to go beyond just having a high school diploma, that they have to go out and get some form of postsecondary education," she said.

Alabama State University is also in the process of planning events for the anniversary. Zillah Fluker, vice president of institutional advancement for ASU, said that between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7, a variety of events would take place, such as a convocation, tours along historic bus routes, a choir concert and a commemorative mass meeting.

However, Fluker said she ultimately wants the commemoration to be about something more than any single event.

"If you look at the anniversary, ASU understands that this is a significant part of our history and we believe that it is our responsibility to commemorate the event, but it's also important for us to educate, so we're going to have to partner with others to get the word out because the story has a lot of different pieces to it and we have an opportunity to help people understand all the different pieces that made this boycott special 60 years ago," Fluker said.

In addition, Briddell said the website www.dreammarcheson.com, which was created as a way to celebrate the Selma march, would still be in use to promote the Montgomery Bus Boycott anniversary events. He said city groups who are holding events could advertise them through the website by contacting the city.

"Folks will have a one-stop shop to see all of the different events that will be conducted," Briddell said.