| Montgomery Improvement Association |
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Information AboutMontgomery Improvement Association |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION | |
| 1955 establishments | |
| african americans rights organizations | |
| history of african-american civil rights | |
| history of alabama | |
| local civil rights history | |
| montgomery, alabama | |
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The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed on December 5, 1955 by black ministers and community leaders in Montgomery, Alabama. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., the MIA was instrumental in guiding the Montgomery bus boycott, a successful campaign that focused national attention on racial segregation in the South and catapulted King into the national spotlight. HISTORY Following Rosa Parks ' arrest on 1 December for failing to vacate her seat for a white passenger on a Montgomery city bus, Jo Ann Robinson of the Women's Political Council and E. D. Nixon of the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People (NAACP) launched plans for a one-day boycott of Montgomery buses on 5 December. Ninety percent of the black community participated and stayed off the buses that day, prompting calls for boycott leaders to harness the momentum into a larger protest campaign. FORMING THE ASSOCIATION At a meeting that evening attended by several thousand community members, the MIA was established to oversee the continuation and maintenance of the boycott, and King, a young minister new to Montgomery, was elected its chairman. The organization’s overall mission, however, extended beyond the boycott campaign, as it sought to "improve the general status of Montgomery, to improve race relations, and to uplift the general tenor of the community." After the MIA’s initial meeting, the executive committee drafted the demands of the boycott and agreed that the campaign would continue until demands were met. Their demands included courteous treatment by bus operators, first-come, first-served seating, and emp loyment of Negro bus drivers. Over the next year, the association organized carpools and held weekly gatherings with sermons and music to keep the black community mobilized. Also during this time period, MIA officers negotiated with Montgomery city leaders, coordinated legal challenges with the NAACP to the city's bus segregation ordinance, and supported the boycott financially, raising money by passing the plate at meetings and soliciting support from northern and southern civil rights organizations. VICTORY Following its success in Montgomery, the MIA became one of the founding organizations of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in January 1957. The MIA lost some vital momentum after King moved from Montgomery to Atlanta in 1960, but the organization continued campaigns throughout the 1960s, focusing on voter registration, local school integration, and the integration of Montgomery parkS. PEOPLE
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