Riding for Rights: The Story of the Stillman Bus Boycotts
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Note (November 2018): The documentary is no longer available. The abstract provides an overview of the project. |
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Abstract: Four students sparked the start of a movement when they refused their bus seats to two white passengers. In 1962, The Druid City Transit System served a 90 percent African-American patronage, yet they only hired white drivers. On paper, the company claimed to have left Jim Crow in the past by issuing a “progressive policy of ‘non-segregated seating’ as well as the ‘fair and impartial treatment of all passengers.’” [1] In practice, however, drivers often forced African-American passengers to the back of the bus in favor of white passengers.
Frustrated by inaction of their peers and inspired by the non-violent actions of the Civil Rights Movement, both local leaders and students at Tuscaloosa’s Stillman College orchestrated a bold yet intentionally peaceful act of resistance. On May 5th, 1962, three Stillman students and one high school student refused to move to the back of a city bus. Despite the bus system’s official policy of non-discrimination, the white driver insisted that the students give up their seats for two white passengers. Their refusal sparked a tense argument, and eventually, they were forced off the bus and chased down the street by an angry mob. The students filed into a car and fled the scene, but were shortly stopped by police officers, charged with reckless driving, and mercilessly beaten. Other riders sought help from Reverend Willie Herzfeld, who worked to unite local African-American congregations in their quest for racial justice.
These actions lead to the eventual, formally organized Druid City Bus Boycotts of 1964. With an elaborately planned form of alternative transportation, nearly all of the African-Americans in the Tuscaloosa community refused bus transportation and effectively put the Druid City Transit System out of business.
The movement in West Tuscaloosa highlighted the collective strength that can come about with the actions of a select few. Despite traditional conceptions of leadership and authority, this chapter in Tuscaloosa’s civil rights history captured the resilient nature of young souls and their integral role in creating change. Without the participation of Stillman College students in the Tuscaloosa Bus Boycotts of 1964, an active Civil Rights Movement may have failed to materialize in the city.
The story of the bus boycotts, though, rests largely in the memories of a handful of Tuscaloosa locals. Cordoned off from The University of Alabama, Stillman College and its surrounding community have a Civil Rights history that has been relatively untouched by national media.
“Riding for Rights” sheds light onto a missing piece of Tuscaloosa’s Civil Rights narrative through the story of one of those riders, Tuscaloosa resident Merjo Hollingworth-Merriwether. It follows her as she mobilizes and motivates the West Tuscaloosa community in their quest for change. It also tells the story of her peers, some of whom remained unaware of the initial incident for years to follow, and speaks to the attitudes of the surrounding community. And, lastly, it tells the story of the allies of the movement, placing those years of resistance (1962-1964) in a larger historical and spatial context.
[1] B.J. Hollars, Opening The Doors: The Desegregation of the university of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University Alabama Press, 2013), 192.
Word Count: 500
Bibliography:
Primary Source Text
“Stillman Students Beaten, Gassed,” The Student Voice, June, 1962, https://ualearn.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-2648823-dt-content-rid-22168467_1/courses/201710-SS-AAST-303-001-AMS-303-001/StillmanBusing_StudentVoice.pdf
“Putting on the Squeeze,” The Tuscaloosa News, July 10, 1964.
“Boycott Causes Cut in City Bus Service,” The Tuscaloosa News, August 11, 1964.
“Entire City Bus Service in Doubt,” The Tuscaloosa News, August 12, 1964.
Alabama Legislative Commission to Resume The Peace, to State, County and City Officials, at 1 (1964) (Conf. Rep.)
“Police Have Even Tapped Phone Booths,” The Tuscaloosa News, July 3, 1964.
Willie Lynch, “The Making of a Slave” (Speech, Colony of Virginia, 1712).
United States. Civil Rights Act of 1964. Washington :U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1969.
Interviews
Stan Murphy (Attorney and University of Alabama professor), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing civil rights in Tuscaloosa, April 19th, 2017.
Willy Wells (Stillman College), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing Stillman Bus Boycotts, April 19th, 2017.
Merjo Merriweather (participant in Stillman Bus Boycotts), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing Stillman Bus Boycotts, April 21st, 2017.
Ty Linton (owner of local Barber shop in Tuscaloosa), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing Stillman Bus Boycotts, April 19th, 2017.
Essays, articles, books
B.J. Hollars, Opening The Doors: The Desegregation of the university of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University Alabama Press, 2013..
Simon Wendt, “God, Ghandi, and Guns: The African American Freedom Struggle in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1964-1965,” The Journal of African American History, 89, no. 1 (Winter 2004): 39-55.
Frustrated by inaction of their peers and inspired by the non-violent actions of the Civil Rights Movement, both local leaders and students at Tuscaloosa’s Stillman College orchestrated a bold yet intentionally peaceful act of resistance. On May 5th, 1962, three Stillman students and one high school student refused to move to the back of a city bus. Despite the bus system’s official policy of non-discrimination, the white driver insisted that the students give up their seats for two white passengers. Their refusal sparked a tense argument, and eventually, they were forced off the bus and chased down the street by an angry mob. The students filed into a car and fled the scene, but were shortly stopped by police officers, charged with reckless driving, and mercilessly beaten. Other riders sought help from Reverend Willie Herzfeld, who worked to unite local African-American congregations in their quest for racial justice.
These actions lead to the eventual, formally organized Druid City Bus Boycotts of 1964. With an elaborately planned form of alternative transportation, nearly all of the African-Americans in the Tuscaloosa community refused bus transportation and effectively put the Druid City Transit System out of business.
The movement in West Tuscaloosa highlighted the collective strength that can come about with the actions of a select few. Despite traditional conceptions of leadership and authority, this chapter in Tuscaloosa’s civil rights history captured the resilient nature of young souls and their integral role in creating change. Without the participation of Stillman College students in the Tuscaloosa Bus Boycotts of 1964, an active Civil Rights Movement may have failed to materialize in the city.
The story of the bus boycotts, though, rests largely in the memories of a handful of Tuscaloosa locals. Cordoned off from The University of Alabama, Stillman College and its surrounding community have a Civil Rights history that has been relatively untouched by national media.
“Riding for Rights” sheds light onto a missing piece of Tuscaloosa’s Civil Rights narrative through the story of one of those riders, Tuscaloosa resident Merjo Hollingworth-Merriwether. It follows her as she mobilizes and motivates the West Tuscaloosa community in their quest for change. It also tells the story of her peers, some of whom remained unaware of the initial incident for years to follow, and speaks to the attitudes of the surrounding community. And, lastly, it tells the story of the allies of the movement, placing those years of resistance (1962-1964) in a larger historical and spatial context.
[1] B.J. Hollars, Opening The Doors: The Desegregation of the university of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University Alabama Press, 2013), 192.
Word Count: 500
Bibliography:
Primary Source Text
“Stillman Students Beaten, Gassed,” The Student Voice, June, 1962, https://ualearn.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-2648823-dt-content-rid-22168467_1/courses/201710-SS-AAST-303-001-AMS-303-001/StillmanBusing_StudentVoice.pdf
“Putting on the Squeeze,” The Tuscaloosa News, July 10, 1964.
“Boycott Causes Cut in City Bus Service,” The Tuscaloosa News, August 11, 1964.
“Entire City Bus Service in Doubt,” The Tuscaloosa News, August 12, 1964.
Alabama Legislative Commission to Resume The Peace, to State, County and City Officials, at 1 (1964) (Conf. Rep.)
“Police Have Even Tapped Phone Booths,” The Tuscaloosa News, July 3, 1964.
Willie Lynch, “The Making of a Slave” (Speech, Colony of Virginia, 1712).
United States. Civil Rights Act of 1964. Washington :U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1969.
Interviews
Stan Murphy (Attorney and University of Alabama professor), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing civil rights in Tuscaloosa, April 19th, 2017.
Willy Wells (Stillman College), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing Stillman Bus Boycotts, April 19th, 2017.
Merjo Merriweather (participant in Stillman Bus Boycotts), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing Stillman Bus Boycotts, April 21st, 2017.
Ty Linton (owner of local Barber shop in Tuscaloosa), interviewed by Mary Figuers Stallings, discussing Stillman Bus Boycotts, April 19th, 2017.
Essays, articles, books
B.J. Hollars, Opening The Doors: The Desegregation of the university of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University Alabama Press, 2013..
Simon Wendt, “God, Ghandi, and Guns: The African American Freedom Struggle in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1964-1965,” The Journal of African American History, 89, no. 1 (Winter 2004): 39-55.
