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Name _____________________________
Honors World History, Quarter 1
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
By Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil Rights:
Background information: Written in 1958 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom is his account
of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. This is the protest, famously started by Rosa Parks
refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, in which the Black community of Montgomery nonviolently protested Jim Crow segregation laws in their city for an entire year, and won! It is a prime example in
American history of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence in action.
What to do: As you read, take notes on the following pages, writing down important quotes & passages with
page numbers, and finding information in the text that answers the questions for each chapter. Write down
and define words you don’t know as you read.
Name _______________________
Honors World History
Chapter 1 – Return to the South
Segregation:
Jim Crow laws:
1. Why is MLK hesitant about moving from Boston to Montgomery?
2. How did MLK’s upbringing influence his feelings about segregation?
Chapter 2 – Montgomery Before the Protest
NAACP:
1. What are some examples of segregation, injustice, or unfairness in race relations in Montgomery?
2. What was the situation like on Montgomery city busses?
3. What does MLK think the black community of Montgomery needs in order to fight back against racial
inequality?
Name _____________________________
Honors World History
Chapter 3: The Decisive Arrest
Vocabulary
Mimeograph –
Boycott -
1. Explain what happened with Rosa Parks.
2. What did the Black community decide to do after hearing about Parks’ arrest?
3. On page 51, MLK cites Thoreau’s Essay on Civil Disobedience and says that with the Montgomery Bus Boycott the
Black community of Montgomery is saying to the white community, “We can no longer lend our cooperation to an evil
system.” Explain what you think MLK means by this.
Chapter 4: The Day of Days, December 5
1. What happened on the first day of the bus boycott? Was it a success or not? How do you know?
2. How is MLK’s form of protest different from that of the KKK and the White Citizen’s Council? Whose methods do you
think would be more effective and why?
3. What are the protesters’ specific demands that must be met before they will call off the protest and begin riding the
busses again?
Chapter 5: The Movement Gathers Momentum
1. How many African-Americans that used to ride the bus daily are now participating in the bus boycott?
2. Explain how the system of transportation worked for all of these protesters. How did everyone get to work and get
around town?
3. Were these protesters specialized, trained activists or do they seem to be regular people? Would YOU have
participated in the bus boycott if it meant you had to walk to school every day? Why or why not?
4. Where did the MIA get the money to continue running their system and sustaining the boycott?
Chapter 6: Pilgrimage to Nonviolence
(You can skip sections on Karl Marx and Reinhold Niebuhr, but read the one in between.)
1. Why is MLK fascinated by Thoreau’s Essay on Civil Disobedience?
2. What specific aspects of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance is MLK attracted to?
3. What are the six basic facts about nonviolent resistance that MLK lays out in this chapter? Explain each one in 1-2
sentences.
4. Explain what MLK means when he uses the term “agape” love. What does agape have to do with nonviolent
resistance?
Chapter 7: Methods of the Opposition
1. Explain what happened at the meetings with the Montgomery City Council and the bus company leaders. Was an
agreement reached? Why or why not.
2. What is the council’s reason for not allowing “first-come, first-serve” seating?
3. What methods did the white leaders of Montgomery start using against MLK and the movement to try to put a stop
to the protest? Were these methods effective? Why or why not?
Chapter 8: The Violence of Desperate Men
1. When the “get-tough” policies failed, what tactics did those trying to stop the movement resort to?
2. What was MLK’s response to these tactics?
3. When they realized that violence could not stop the protests, what did the opposition do next? How did they justify
this?
4. How did the Black community respond?
5. Why does MLK leave the courtroom with a smile?
Chapter 9: Desegregation at Last
Plessy v. Ferguson -
14th Amendment –
State courts vs. Federal courts –
integration -
1. Explain the succession of court decisions (state & federal) relating to bus segregation in Montgomery.
2. How does MLK treat Rev. Fields after the truth comes out about his statements?
3. How does the MIA prepare for the integration of busses in Montgomery?
4. Choose one of the MIA’s “Integrated Bus Suggestions” and explain how it is related to Gandhi’s philosophies of
nonviolence.
5. Explain the diversity of reactions to the bus integration in Montgomery.
6. What do you think MLK means when he says, “The skies did not fall when integrated buses finally traveled the
streets of Montgomery.”