The Thunder of Angels: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow

323 Pages·2005·1.81 MB·English

by  Donnie Williams

T $24.95 (CAN $33.95)
h
e On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused
togive up her seat on bus #2857 to a white
T
man. The yearlong struggle to integrate the
h
Montgomery, Alabama, buses sparked by
u
The Thunder of Angels Parks’s heroism was the birth of the modern
n
civil rights movement, bringing Martin Luther
d
King Jr. to prominence and promising the
e
end ofsegregation in America.
r

o The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the
The basic facts of the Montgomery bus boy-
f
People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow cott are, of course, familiar, but this book
A
tells us far more. Based on extensive inter-
n
views conducted over decades and thousands
g
of exclusive documents, we get a glimpse of
e
what happened behind the scenes:
l
s
• the history of violence and abuse on the
citybuses
W
IL • what other parties were instrumental
L
IA inbringing about and organizing the
M
busboycott
S
w
• the stories of civil rights pioneers like
it
h E. D. Nixon and Jo Ann Robinson

G
R • what went on at Martin Luther King Jr.’s
E
E trial
N
H
A • how black and white lawyers worked
W togetherto overturn segregation in
thecourtroom
• and even firsthand accounts from the
segregationists who bombed the homes
of some ofMontgomery’s most progres-
sive ministers
Published to coincide with the 50th
$24.95 (CAN $33.95) anniversary of Rosa Parks’s heroic stand,
here at last is the full, untold story of the
boycott—and of the beginning of a new
era in race relations.
DONNIE WILLIAMS with WAYNE GREENHAW

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams,Donnie,1953–
The thunder of angels : the Montgomery bus boycott and the people who
broke the back of Jim Crow / Donnie Williams with Wayne Greenhaw.—1st ed.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-55652-590-7
1.African Americans—Civil rights—Alabama—Montgomery—History—
20th century. 2.Civil rights movements—Alabama—Montgomery—
History—20th century. 3.African American civil rights workers—Alabama—
Montgomery—Biography. 4.Boycotts—Alabama—Montgomery—
History—20th century. 5.Segregation in transportation—Alabama—
Montgomery—History—20th century. 6.Montgomery (Ala.)—Race relations.
7.Montgomery (Ala.)—Biography. I.Greenhaw,Wayne,1940- II.Title.
F334.M79N476 2006
323'.09761'4709045—dc22
2005008397
Cover design: Joan Sommers Design
Interior design: Monica Baziuk
© 2006 by Donnie Williams with Wayne Greenhaw
All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Lawrence Hill Books
An imprint of Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 1-55652-590-7
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
For Vivian Summerford Williams
and Shane, Wes, and Hayley Williams;
in memory of Hubert Summerford;
and for Sally Maddox Greenhaw

“And there appeared in the sky a multitude of angels, and the music they
made was roaring thunder, and the righteous among them roared, and
their lightning struck down the evil.”
—an elderly black Montgomery minister describing the
results of the bus boycott

Contents
Author’s Note
0 ix
Preface:
America’s Bus, by Donnie Williams 0 xi
Preface:
A Personal History, by Wayne Greenhaw 0 xv
1
Before the Beginning 0 1
2
His Own Man 0 21
3
A Reporter’s Scoop 0 67
4
Hanging from the Stars 0 89
5
Rough Days and Dangerous Nights 0 115
6
The White Preacher 0 137
7
The White Establishment Uses the Law 0 147
8
King on Trial 0 177
9
In Federal Court 0 207
10
A Long, Hot Summer 0 223
11
“A Glorious Daybreak” 0 235
Epilogue
0 257
Acknowledgments
0 275
Notes and Sources
0 277
Bibliography
0 283
Index
0 287
Author’s Note
I wrote
The Thunder of Angels because I believe that the full
story of what happened in the days and years building up to
Rosa Parks’s refusal to give up her seat on a city bus on Decem-
ber 1, 1955, and of what happened during the turbulent year that
followed, has not been fully told. In particular, the role of Edgar
Daniel (E. D.) Nixon, an uneducated Pullman porter who orga-
nized the NAACP in Alabama while Martin Luther King, Jr.,
was still a child, has not been given its due.
After numerous deplorable incidents built up to Mrs. Parks’s
action, the black men and women of Montgomery became so
infuriated that they stood up against the white power structure.
The bus boycott that ensued precipitated the founding of the
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)—the birth of
the civil rights movement.
My father-in-law saved the bus on which Parks took her his-
toric stand, inspiring me to delve into the history of the bus and
the boycott. My coauthor already knew most of the participants
as a reporter. Together, we hope we have illuminated a turning
point in our nation’s history.
—Donnie Williams
[ ix ]