One of the most famous campaigns of the modern Civil Rights Movement started 65 years ago this week on December 5, 1955. Following the arrest of Rosa Parks on December 1, the black community of Montgomery, AL engaged in a one day bus boycott. After a hugely successful response on that day, there was a crucial decision to be made. Should they celebrate that one day victory and use it as leverage to negotiate for change with the local white authorities, or should they continue the boycott so that their demands for change could not be dismissed as a one day effort? Although the prospects for any meaningful change would be greater through a sustained boycott, the risk was that the boycott might fade away the longer it took for the white authorities to respond to their demands. That crucial decision would depend on the response of the hundreds who gathered for a mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church on that evening of December 5. The main address would be given by the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was not yet 27 years old. He had 20 minutes to prepare the most important message of his life. Dr. King described his state of mind at that crucial time:
I was now almost overcome, obsessed by a feeling of inadequacy. In this state of anxiety, I had already wasted five of the original twenty. With nothing left but faith in a power whose matchless strength stands over against the frailties and inadequacies of human nature, I turned to God in prayer. My words were brief and simple, asking God to restore my balance and to be with me in a time when I needed His guidance more than ever. (From Stride Toward Freedom p.48 by Martin Luther King, Jr.)
As they say, “the rest is history.” The response of the black people gathered at the mass meeting that fateful night was to continue the boycott. No one could have imagined that it would last for 381 days and that the vast majority of the black community walked or found alternative transportation for all that time (see the photos above). The point of lifting up the events of December 5, 1955 is to both give thanks for the faith and persistence of those who participated in the Montgomery bus boycott and to remind us that the struggle for racial justice in our time requires the same level of faith and persistence. It also reminds us that we cannot know ahead of time how our efforts will turn out. What we can do is take the step that presents itself in the moment and trust that the next step will emerge as we stay committed to the journey of faith and justice.
Fortunately Dr. King’s message at Holt Street Baptist Church on December 5, 1955 was recorded. You can listen to the audio and see a transcription of that message in the video posted below. It clearly shows that from the earliest days of Dr. King’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, there was an inseparable connection between Christian discipleship and racial justice.