Reporter

Shades of History:
The Montgomery Bus Boycott/Beyond Black and White

Investigative Reporter

Detail from "5,000 at Meeting Outline Boycott; Bullet Clips Bus,"
African American Odyssey Exhibit, The Library of Congress

Your Role

An investigative reporter tries to find out the facts about a particular event or series of events. Accuracy of information is important in this role, as are specific details, including the exact words of people who witnessed the events. Reporters often use the following key questions to frame their investigations: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

The Montgomery Alabama arrest of Rosa Parks and the bus boycott that followed it were major national news events. Your job is to uncover the facts that are most significant in the story of the boycott, make sure that they are as accurate as possible, and bring your expertise back to your group. As you read, view, and listen, look for what surprises you, what you think is most interesting and important, and what you want to know more about, and try to make note of information obtained from primary sources.

Questions

What are the most important dates and events related to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955? For each event, how would you answer the reporter's key questions?
What are some details about the boycott that you consider important, which might have been left out of other accounts you have read or heard?
What are your sources? How reliable are they? How do you know? Why does it matter?

Resources

Time Covers the Boycott from Time Magazine/HBO
Montgomery Bus Boycott from Stanford's Martin Luther King, Jr. Online Encyclopedia
December 1: On This Day in History from the The American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress
The Montgomery Bus Boycott from Alabama Department of Archives & History
The Modern Civil Rights Movement from National Public Radio's Morning Edition
Historic News Articles on the Montgomery Bus Boycott from the Montgomery Advertiser and the Associated Press

For a place to take notes as you do your research, please print the Reporter Worksheet.