Why did the Montgomery bus boycott succeed? Angelica Hooton

Why did the Montgomery bus boycott succeed?

Angelica Hooton Second Year

Rosa Parks

The Montgomery bus boycott was a inspiring people to take part in the protest, political and social campaign protesting as well as organising it, and fighting against against the policy of racial segregation blatant racism in the US, the boycott might on public transportation in Montgomery, have been ineffective and a failure. Strong Alabama, USA. It happened during leadership certainly played a part in the December 1955, and was a key event in the boycott’s success. progress of the Civil Rights Movement. A number of factors helped Another factor that influenced make this boycott succeed and galvanise greater publicity for the Civil Strong leadership the boycott’s success was non-violent protest. Instead of resorting to violence to Rights movement in the did play a protest against the injustice, USA. Certainly, strong leadership was vital, as was the fact the leaders called crucial role in the boycott. the protesters calmly refused to ride on the buses or any other form of public transport for non-violence and that that they were mistreated on legal action was successful. so frequently, instead opting to walk, carStrong leadership did play a crucial role share, and so on. This was just as successful in the boycott. When Rosa Parks was (or more) as violent protest would have arrested for simply refusing to give up her been. The simplicity of this act had an seat on a bus to a white person - a small immense impact just because of how many act of defiance - civil rights leaders such people participated, and how well-planned as Martin Luther King, E.D Nixon, and Jo and strategic it was. The bus company’s Ann Robinson organised the bus boycott as revenue went down by 65%. The boycott is a protest to achieve justice for those who estimated to have caused losses of about are unfairly treated because of their race - $1 million. Violent protest may have just unfortunately, a common occurrence. Their prompted segregation laws to strengthen strong leadership inspired participants and have caused more damage than change. to join the boycott through the use of The boycott proved that the protesters were speeches, sermons and leaflets. A good willing to peacefully change the oppressive example is Martin Luther King addressing laws that caused them to suffer for so 5,000 people in the Holt Street Baptist long. It was subtle and unassuming but Church, promoting the protest. Another changed so much in a short space of time. example is the Montgomery Improvement It prompted legal action and the eventual Association (MIA) being set up to co- integration of buses. Equality hadn’t been ordinate the boycott. King was made the fully achieved yet, but non-violent protest leader for the MIA. The leaders used their was one of the most important reasons for charisma and platforms (King was a pastor) the success of the boycott, which took a to give the bus boycott leverage. This is step towards the integration of the US. It something only strong leaders would do - is well known that non-violent protest also risking themselves to bring about justice helped other causes to do with the Civil for those they lead. Without these leaders Rights Movement succeed as well. The last, but not the least important, factor in the success of the Montgomery bus boycott was legal action. Obviously, without legal action, the bus boycott would have been all for nothing. The two other reasons--non-violent protest and strong leadership--are what caused legal change, but without it, the success would not have existed. In June 1956, the MIA, alongside the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), challenged the segregation bus laws in a federal court. This prompted action in the Supreme Court, which integrated the buses and declared segregated buses were unconstitutional. If the case had never been taken to court, nothing would have happened. Despite the two other reasons being responsible for pushing the case into a national court, legal action was the final push that took the fight for equality and against racial prejudices a step further towards its goal.

Overall, the most important reason for the boycott’s success was probably non-violent protest, although non-violent protest is very much linked with the strength of the leadership who inspired this. This powerful form of protest, that Gandhi had used in India, gave the moral high ground to black people. It was a very tactical and intelligent move that greatly benefited the Civil Rights Movement. Without gratuitous violence, that may have ended horribly, it proved to be the most effective strategy. Non-violent protest was demonstrated to have a far more positive effect than violence ever did.

Pandemic panic – what explains the behaviour behind the public’s reaction to the coronavirus of 2020?

This article was published in the ATP Today magazine

Caitlin Smith Lower Sixth

As we have all heard, COVID-19 is the One of the most ridiculous things to have global pandemic sending the world into come out of the pandemic is the global toipanic, resulting in massive media cover- let paper shortage. Hand sanitiser is more age and causing the population to react in expected, however the sudden demand for concerning ways. COVID-19 is a new ill- toilet roll is confusing psychologists. The ness that can affect your lungs and airways. global population is currently going into However, as we know, panic mode due to the daily the flu is a very similar illness, so why does this One of the messages being sent out by governments and buying pandemic seem to be most ridiculous more than we need to. But worrying people beyond limit? things to have come out of the why toilet paper? Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos: an Fear is a ‘mix of miscalibrated emotion and limited knowledge’ pandemic is the global toilet expert in consumer and behavioural science at the University College London, according to psycholo- paper shortage. tells us that people are now gist David DeSteno from panic buying. Toilet paper Northeastern University, Boston. has a longer shelf life than lots of things, The difference between the fear of the flu so people can see it lasting a long time in and COVID-19 is due to the lack of infor- potential self-isolation conditions. Addimation we possess about it. Most people tionally, it is prominently featured in aisles have not had COVID-19, whereas we have and is large in size, so we ae psychologically personal experience with the flu; we understand it which makes it seem less scary.

So why are we reacting this way? There is what psychologists call ‘availability bias’ meaning that we are more likely to be affected by events that we can immediately recall. This is being accelerated by the constant media coverage surrounding the virus and its symptoms, so it is always at the forefront of people’s minds. With even our own Prime Minister contracting this illness, a powerful figure who we hoped would lead us through this, people are therefore more aware of it and interpret the media coverage in a threatening way. News articles and media speculation is making us more worried about contracting the virus and potentially more susceptible to embracing fake claims and hostile attitudes towards people around us, explaining the public’s new attitudes towards others. Another explanation is down to our uncertainty of COVID-19. This is down to genes passed down by our ancestors, as we have evolved to react negatively to this kind of uncertainty and unpredictability. The reason for this is because it gives a feeling of lack of control, and we have been made to respond to threats and protect ourselves (evidenced by our fight or flight mechanisms). This is where we see people take on more unusual behaviours, because they don’t know how else to react. drawn to purchasing it in times of crisis. This is now however becoming a system of positive feedback. People are buying the product in large quantities, so the shelves are empty. This psychologically worries people and fears arise that stocks will permanently run out; therefore, people buy more than they need, leaving shelves empty. The cycle then just repeats itself. It is more obvious when an aisle of toilet paper is empty, compared to other smaller items, which leads to the craze over the item intensifying.

The whole procedure is just a way of people feeling more in control in a time of very little control over their lives, as we wonder when lockdown will cease.

However, there could be positives to this strange trend. Long-term stress is shown to weaken the immune system. If stockpiling toilet paper lowers the stress levels of UK citizens, then they will be less susceptible to contracting the illness.

But why are people reacting in different ways? Not everyone reacts to pandemics in the same way. Research says that when news is mixed, as it clearly is due to the media in our current day and age, people can choose to focus on the good or the bad. People who are particularly concerned about illness or disease, or suffer from Nosophobia, feel a heightened sense of their own mortality because they find it harder to process the good news side. This is to do with how their schema influence their stereotypes of disease.

So overall, why have people retreated into a state of panic and shown abnormal behaviour over a disease very much like one of which has been around for 100 years? The answer is this; it is the fear of the unknown, combined with miscommunication from the media, and the way in which our brain reacts to this state of panic. Whether COVID-19 will have further psychological implications is unknown, however it is certain that how we perceive this will greatly influence how the public respond in the coming months to various restrictions put in place.

Josh Becvar

Tom Jackson