INVESTIGATE:

Why did the boycott of Montgomery's buses succeed? (Read each source below, then answer the questions in the notebook. Ask your teacher for an inquiry organizer worksheet to help you think about the ways that the sources support and contradict each other.)

SOURCES:

READ: Court Affidavit

Head Note: This sworn statement was submitted to the state court when Rosa Parks appealed her conviction.

Rosa Parks, Appellant

VS

City of Montgomery, Appellee


Appealed to Court of Appeals of Alabama From: Circuit Court of Montgomery County

Feb. 12, 1957 Affirmed--[illegible signature]

Agreed Stipulation of Facts

Attached hereto and marked Exhibit "A" is a plan of the seating arrangement of the bus on which the alleged violation occurred. There were thirty-six seats assigned for passengers. Just prior to the alleged violation by the defendant the ten front seats were assigned for white persons and the back twenty-six seats were assigned for negroes. The defendant was sitting on one of the first dual seats immediately behind those occupied by white passengers and all seats assigned to whites were occupied and all standing room in that section was taken. Negroes were also standing in the negro section. The evidence is in dispute as to whether or not there were vacant seats in the negro section. In order to take on more white passengers who were at that time waiting to board the bus the driver, the agent in charge, requested the passengers on the row of seats immediately in the rear of the white section to give up their seats to white passengers. This would have made four more seats available to whites and under such reassignment the white section would have been increased to fourteen seats and the negro section decreased to twenty-two seats. The defendant, a negro, refused to move in accordance with the request of the bus driver, the agent in charge, and was arrested for such refusal.

The defendant was convicted in the Recorders Court of the City of Montgomery, Alabama, and appealed to this Court where the case is at issue.

Respectfully submitted,

D. 1Eugene Loe

Fred D. Gray

Charles D2. Langford


Feb. 22, 1956

Filed in open court and made a part of record of this case.

Carter

Judge

1Attorney for the city of Montgomery

2Lawyers for Rosa Parks

Source: Excerpt from the brief filed on behalf of Rosa Parks in Parks vs. City of Montgomery. Filed in the Court of Appeals, Montgomery, Alabama, March 28, 1956. Signed by D. Eugene Loe, attorney for the city of Montgomery, and Fred D. Gray and Charles D. Langford, attorneys for Rosa Parks.

USE THE NOTEBOOK (instructions):

To answer these questions, log in below

Sourcing: Consider a document's attribution (both its author and how the document came into being).

Who signed this document? Why might this be important?

Close Reading: Read carefully to consider what a source says and the language used to say it.

How does this document define where Rosa Parks sat? Do you think this means the front, middle, or back of the bus?

Corroborating: Check important details across multiple sources to determine points of agreement and disagreement.

Compare the two documents. Which document is more trustworthy? Why?

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