![]() In response to Parks’ arrest, Black Americans refused to ride the city buses in an effort to force an end to segregated seating. At the time, Alabama law required Black people to give up their seats to White people if the bus was full. The boycott started after Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery for refusing to give up her bus seat to a White man on December 1, 1955. The Montgomery Bus Boycott drew national attention because it was the first major protest against segregation. Montgomery was ground zero for protests during the Civil Rights Movement. The birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement In May 1861, the Confederate government moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia, which remained the capital of the Confederacy until the end of the Civil War. Eleven states had seceded from the union after Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the US in 1860.ĭelegates from six of those states – South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Louisiana – convened in Montgomery in February 1861 to officially establish their own government. Montgomery is often called the “Cradle of the Confederacy” because in 1861 it briefly served as the first capital of the Confederate States of America. It was once the capital of the Confederacy “If you scratch hard enough at the surface of any of those matters (and many others) today, you’ll likely find the legacy of slavery lying somewhere underneath.” He added that enslaved labor fueled the local economy and influenced everything from the political order to religious life. “Slavery’s impact could be seen in everything,” Rothman said in an email to CNN. By the start of the Civil War a year later, Montgomery was among the most prominent slave trading communities in the state. They would later be sold in the city’s slave markets.īy 1860, there were more than 435,000 enslaved people in the state, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. Bettmann Archive/Getty ImagesĮnslaved people would arrive on Montgomery’s riverfront or at the train station where they would be chained together and paraded down Commerce Street. The annual sale and hiring of slaves at Montgomery, Alabama, 1861. Many of the rail routes had been constructed by slave labor. In the mid-1800s, thousands of enslaved people were transported on steamboats and railroads from New Orleans up the Alabama River to Montgomery, according to the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative. Rothman, a historian and chair of the Department of History at the University of Alabama, told CNN the state played a “substantial role in the domestic slave trade” until the Civil War. In downtown Montgomery, not far from where the brawl took place, a historic marker commemorates the city’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Montgomery played a central role in the slave trade ![]() Here’s a look at Montgomery’s storied racial history. On social media, images from the brawl quickly became a meme, as some viewers praised the Black bystanders who rushed – and swam – to the co-captain’s defense.īut jokes and memes aside, historians have noted that the altercation has once again placed Montgomery at the center of conversations around race. In a sworn statement to police, a witness alleged that a racial slur was used before the brawl began. “We are unable to present any inciting a riot or racially biased charges at this time,” Albert said during a news conference.īut that news hasn’t stopped some from speculating about the motivations behind a fight that appeared bitterly divided along racial lines. X/ warrants issued for 3 men in massive fight at Montgomery riverfront dock ![]()
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