Phuc Nguyen

Professor Jones
History 1700
Word Count: 1779
At the Dark End of the Street
The famous 1955 bus boycott of Montgomery, Alabama; was thought to be a spontaneous
act of negligent to follow state segregation laws on buses caused by a tired lady known as Rosa
Parks and from this spawned the famous movement we all came to know as the Civil Rights
Movement. Though many historians present it as a struggle between black and white males - the
heroic leadership of Martin Luther King confronting intransigent white supremacist, brought an
upheave of support from the word and brought civil rights to African Americans through the
nation (McGuire, xx). However this wasnt the case according to McGuire.
In her book, At the Dark End of the Street, Danielle L. McGuire tries to strengthen our
understanding of the Civil Rights Movement by providing us with a new perspective on what
was the true force that sparked the bus boycott of 1955. She suggest previous historians have
taken the wrong perspective on the movement, that it wasnt the black men who took charge
from being tried of their treatment in the South and spurred this movement, while the women sat
quietly in the corner; but it was actually the initiative of the women to claim equality for
themselves from their mistreatment and sexual violence that was common in the South; that
sparked the movement. She suggest that if we understand the role rape and sexual violence
played in African Americans daily lives and within the larger freedom struggle, we have to
reinterpret, if not rewrite, the history of the civil rights movement At the Dark End of the
Street does both (McGuire, xx).

McGuire uses events ten years before the movement happened to show that the idea
going into the boycott was caused by African American women wanting justice for their rapes,
sexual violence, and treatment in the South and from there it was the women who organized the
boycott and kept the fight for equality going, not the powerful black men who historians
supposedly gave credit to. She starts with one of Rosa Parks beginning cases that was assigned
to her within a year of her acceptance into the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), the case was the 1944 rape of Recy Taylor. Many rapes of black
women by white men occur in the South, but what made this case of utter importance was the
fact that it was taken to court twice, it questioned the government and its power, and it created
an outlet for black women to speak their thoughts in a professional matter without getting killed.
With Taylors case, even though she didnt receive justice for her rape good still came out of it
according to McGuire,
Black women like Recy Taylor who were raped by white men in the 1940s used their
voices as weapons against white supremacy. Their testimonies were a form of direct
action. Taylors refusal to remain silent helped expose a ritual of rape in existence since
slaver, inspired a nationwide campaign to defend black womanhood, and have hope to
thousands suffering through similar abuses. Because of the campaign for equal justice for
Recy Taylor, sexual violence and interracial rape became the battleground upon which
African Americans sought to destroy white supremacy and gain personal and political
autonomy (McGuire, 47).
McGuire interprets that from this case it spurred many others and added to the to fire for the
growing call for change because now African American women werent afraid to speak up and
contact the NACCP to help them with their case. A significant case that inspired the bus boycott,
McGuire believes, was the case of Hardman. In this case Sam E. Green a white grocery store
owner raped one of his employee Flossie Hardman a black fifteen-year old, immediately Green
was taken to court and charges were press, but when an all-white jury returned a not guilt
verdict after deliberating for only five minutes, African Americans decided to take matter into

their own hands (McGuire, 69). With the help of the Womens Political Council (WPC) and the
NACCP, African Americans delivered their own guilty verdict by driving Green into the red
they organized a citizens committee to lead a boycott against Greens store since it was mostly
blacks who shopped there, the campaign to shut down Greens store was a success [it]
established the boycott as a powerful weapon for justice and sent a message to whites that
African Americana would not allow white men to disrespect, abuse, and violate black womens
bodies with impunity (McGuire, 70). With this big accomplishment a bigger case soon was
about to hit, for many years many African Americans, mainly women were treated horribly on
the bus; forced to move to the back, pay in the front then walk around to the back, and if they
were to disobey the bus driver it would usually mean harsh police brutality. McGuire focuses on
one noteworthy case that she regards initiated the bus boycott, the case of Claudette Colvin, a
black women who was told to move from her seat for no reason, city law required passengers to
move only if another seat was available. Since all the seats were taken, Colvin had every right to
stay put; however the police still took her in and brought her to trial where Judge Hill found
her guilty of assault and battery and charged her with violating the state rather than city
segregation laws Hill sentenced Colvin to indefinite probation (McGuire, 89). What made
this case crucial was that it was the first of its kind for a black women to plead innocent and
challenge the city in court, this was just the case the WPC was looking for to initiate an all out
attack on bus segregation. African Americans were mad of Colvins arrest and they could use that
anger toward [giving] them the courage to put up a real fight on the bus segregation issue, Jo
Ann Robinson a member of the WPC had been itching for a boycott for over a year, and now
she been laying the groundwork after Colvins second trial she could recall that many women
rejected the use of buses for a few days, with these private protests [she] [was] convinced that

the community was ready for action, with Colvin as their symbolic hero America was ready for a
modern civil rights movement of this greatness. Although for a mass movement of that
magnitude it required someone whose connections and expertise would be necessary for any
successful mas movement and that person was E.D. Nixon a long time member of the NACCP
and was quite triumphant with protests. With everything ready to initiate the boycott, there was
still one problem, Nixon didnt approve of Colvin to be the symbol of their movement. This was
mainly due to her pregnancy and living conditions; Colvins dark skin color and working-class
status made her a political liability in certain parts of the black community[she] had stepped
outside the bounds of respectable behavior for a young women in the 1950s, if the white press
got hold of that information they would have had a field day this was tragic because it meant
they had to postpone the boycott because without Nixons support, Robinson and her colleagues
on the [WPC] would have to wait for another arrest (McGuire, 91 & 92). That arrest didnt take
to long, there is still a debate if it was intentional or her decision to stay put that fearful day was
rooted in her history as a radical activist and years of witnessing injustice whatever the reason
though, Rosa Parks knew she was a great candidate for this movement (McGuire, 95). The WPC
had to find someone whose class background, moral reputation, and public record could
withstand withering white scrutiny and inspire African-American unity and Parks met those
criteria, she was perfect for the position for more than a decade, her work with the NAACP
and other groups placed her at the center of Montgomerys black freedom struggle (McGuire,
96). On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks engaged in her wonderful protest we all came to know
today that initiated the famous 1955 bus boycott. With the arrest of Parks the NACCP and WPC
were ready to act, they knew that the state had mess with the wrong black women and the rest
was history, where all the powerful men of that movement received the credit for the big things

and it is believed that the bus boycott was the start of the Civil Rights Movement. While the
black women and Rosa Parks were perceived as innocent watchers and their contributions were
reduce to small help, without [the] support from working-class womenthe busy boycott
would have failedand yet all the women who risked their lives and livelihoods to make the
thirteen-month protest possible by not riding the buses, handling the day-to-day business,
leading local fund-raising drives, and keeping the carpool running [had] been relegated to the
footnotes of history (McGuire, 119).
This book deserves credit where needed, to attempt a thesis that rewrites history from a
different stand point is a bold move, however McGuire does quite a great job at immersing her
audience in this new perspective of women engagement during the civil rights movement. She
uses many historical events, newspaper, and quotes of African American women to back up her
thesis and interpretation of the evidence. Her interpretations of the evidence to summarize certain
thoughts those women were going through was quite convincing, it also helped that she is a
women herself. Having this book in chronological order also helped to understand McGuire
thought process and organization better. However there were flaws I noticed, for one with her use
of evidence, although she had many I felt that some were redundant and didnt need to be there
to get the point across. Also I felt she was a bit bias by choosing her evidence carefully, most of
her evidence involved a women case and their thoughts during that case, while she did include
some male cases she didnt go into much detail of the black mens perspective during that era
and what their contribution were. To give all the credit to women would be wrong, because many
of African American men also helped add fuel to this movement also. But to shed a new light on
the Civil Rights Movement and acknowledge the many contributions African American women

brought to the battleground and bring justice to them, McGuire did quite well to enlighten her
audience.