What boycott launched in 1955–56 to challenge Montgomery, Alabama's segregated buses?

• A. Bus Equality Movement
• B. Southern Bus Protest
• C. Montgomery Freedom Ride
• D. Montgomery Bus Boycott

Answer: (D)

This question asks you to recognize a defining civil rights protest that used a boycott to end segregation on city buses. The Montgomery Bus Boycott is the correct name for the 1955–56 campaign that began after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, organized by local leaders under the Montgomery Improvement Association with Martin Luther King Jr. The action lasted 381 days, with African American residents skipping the buses and organizing carpools and alternative transport, demonstrating the economic impact of nonviolent resistance. Its success helped lead to Browder v. Gayle in 1956, the Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional and prompting desegregation of Montgomery’s buses. The other options don’t fit because they don’t correspond to the well-known Montgomery sit-down/ride boycott that targeted city buses, and some refer to different events or names.