Martha White was a housekeeper whose refusal to leave the whites-only section of a bus was the catalyst for a 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.White was on her way home from work on June 15, 1953, when she boarded a city bus and saw just one open seat – in the front row, just behind the driver.
Though the seat was in the section reserved for white passengers, White sat, eager to rest after a long day. The bus driver ordered her to move, but she refused, and she was ultimately kicked off the bus and threatened with arrest.
But Baton Rouge had recently passed an ordinance desegregating the buses, so White had broken no city laws.In the aftermath of the incident, the city’s bus drivers went on strike and demanded the city overturn.
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