5.3 Gendered leadership in Montgomery

Montgomery was generally a more patriarchal place than most, with formal leadership roles dominated by men. This was also the case within the Montgomery civil rights movement (Theoharis, 2015), where the most established figures were male church ministers. However, there was plenty of vibrant leadership from Montgomery’s Black women, which has been largely overlooked in white retellings of the story.

The work of the Women’s Political Council (WPC) was particularly important to the success of the struggle. Formed in 1946 by the academic Mary Fair Burks, the WPC was a political organisation that sought practical ways of fighting racism. As noted by Christensen (2008), the focus of the WPC was on educating Black people about rights and designing and organising protest actions and campaigns against segregation. Jo Ann Robinson succeeded Burks as WPC president in 1950, and by the time of the arrests in 1955, the WPC had grown to over 200 active members, mostly women scholars and educators (Brice and Taylor, 2020).

Under Jo Ann Robinson’s leadership, the WPC had the imagination to identify Montgomery’s buses as an important site for protest – after all, 70% of bus users were Black people, so a boycott action could cripple the service. By the time of Claudette Colvin’s arrest, the WPC had formulated a strategy for action. They had tried the more conventional tactics of writing to people in power locally and seeking meetings with them. This approach was unsuccessful, so the group would now pursue a more radical approach – a boycott. The WPC was overruled by the local clergy, however. When Rosa Parks was arrested, the WPC would not be outmanoeuvred again. It printed flyers announcing a boycott and distributed them around the Black areas of Montgomery. This act forced the hand of the church leaders, who felt compelled to support the boycott.

Montgomery’s patriarchal structure was further evidenced by the way in which Rosa Parks’ biography was presented to the country at large. While her activist roots were not concealed, it was her identity as a worker and modestly presented churchgoer that was presented to the public. The male leadership – and indeed the US population in general – were deemed not yet ready to embrace the cause of someone who was a worker, seasoned organiser and a woman.

After accepting the need for the boycott, the Montgomery ministers appointed as spokesman a certain Martin Luther King Jr., who was relatively unknown at the time. As noted by Fairclough (1986, p. 408), the selection of King ‘a virtual newcomer…is perhaps the most revealing comment on the timidity of the local clergy’. King would be a useful scapegoat were the boycott to fail, allowing the ministers to revert to their preferred tactic of seeking slow, cautious change. As fate would have it, of course, King would become a great charismatic leader, whose speeches could electrify mass audiences.

But behind him, providing the infrastructure, know-how and initial vision for the boycott action, was a group of women leaders. These leaders included Rosa Parks. After her arrest, Parks worked tirelessly behind the scenes in Montgomery, answering phones and helping to co-ordinate the city-wide carpool, a service that was continuously and violently attacked by racist police officers and members of the public. Rosa Parks was an important figure in gaining support for the boycott around the US, touring the country as an effective and inspiring public speaker, yet she was never called to speak in Montgomery, which privileged male leaders.

Rosa Parks was arrested a second time during the boycott. The city found a law from 1903 that banned boycotts, and 115 boycott leaders were indicted on 21 February 1956. Because they did not want Martin Luther King to be isolated – and to show collective strength and solidarity – the leaders decided to turn themselves in, with Parks among the first to do so (Theoharis, 2015). This is where the famous picture of her giving fingerprints comes from. It was a deft leadership move, which further enhanced the dignified determination of the boycotters in contrast to the brutish city administration.

Figure 9 Rosa Parks being fingerprinted following her arrest in 1956

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This is a black-and-white photograph of Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by a police officer.

Figure 9 Rosa Parks being fingerprinted following her arrest in 1956

Rosa Parks experienced terrible hardships after her stand. She faced frequent death threats, public attacks, job loss and poverty. Her husband, Raymond, supported her by caring for her mother and tending to the home. This was a flipping of roles for the family, which defied the patriarchal norms of the times. The Parks family was continuously on the edge of financial ruin – both Rosa and Raymond were forced out of their jobs. The formal boycott leaders needed reminding to support the Parks family with occasional fundraising.

The poverty did not ease for the Parks family, who moved to Detroit after the boycott. They struggled through a series of low-paid, insecure jobs. A young aspiring Detroit politician, John Conyers, was taken aback – and in some awe – when Rosa Parks attended one of his campaign meetings unannounced. After he was elected in 1964, he employed her in his office, recognising her organisational skill and broad appeal and bringing her financial difficulties to an end. The two formed a formidable team. In testament to the ethical integrity of Rosa Parks, she once approached Conyers to ask for a reduction in salary, because she felt she was spending too much time making appearances and speeches in support of civil rights rather than working for his office. Conyers refused this suggestion. Regardless of her own poverty, Rosa Parks showed her steadfast commitment to the cause of equality. She used all the means at her disposal to effect change, always putting the cause ahead of her own material needs.

It is only more recently that the rich details of the life and achievements of Rosa Parks have gained wider public attention. Within her story lie countless others, stories of inspirational Black women who worked together to change the world – all of whom had to work through significant prejudice related to the colour of their skin, gender and social class. It is also a story in which management, command and leadership overlap and clash.

You will return to the Rosa Parks case throughout this course. Links back to this section will be provided later, but you can also download a PDF version [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]   of the material if you would prefer that option. You may want to do some of your own further research on the case – a lot of detail had to be left out here, but the story is full of hidden surprises and learning.