February 8, 2020, afternoon
After hearing about Roberta and the choir, everybody took a short break. Then Kenneth and Larry resumed their respective positions at the dining table. Sam and Miss Jasmine returned to the sofa with Whale at her feet. Miss Jasmine said she was tired and just wanted to listen, and she asked Larry to explain the bus boycott to McArdle.
“Larry has read that Tallahassee civil rights book on the bookshelf countless times,” she said to McArdle.
“It’s got a long chapter on the bus boycott. I tried to read it, but it gave me a headache—too many footnotes. And ironically, I am in that book. The lady that wrote it came to interview me, and she gave me a copy of the book when it was published. I’d say that’s Larry’s book now. Go ahead, Larry.”
Larry started: “The bus boycott in Tallahassee started in May 1956. It—”
Somebody was knocking on the door. Larry stood up to answer. When he opened the door Larry could see it was Rosemary. He could see a car driving away. It looked like Jackson Jackson had just dropped her off.
“Yes?” asked Larry. He didn’t ask Rosemary to come in.
“I came to apologize.”
“Rosemary came to apologize to you, Miss Jasmine!”
“I heard what she said, Larry. Please tell Miss Rosemary to come in.”
When she stepped in and stood at the door next to Larry, she looked two inches taller than him, maybe six-four.
“Well, honey,” said Miss Jasmine. “You don’t got nothing to apologize to me for.”
“Yes, ma’am. But I came to apologize to Larry.”
“Apologize to Larry?”
“Yes, ma’am. After you left the restaurant, Manager Jackson was stern with me. I know that sounds funny ’cause he’s so young and short and has braces. He wasn’t angry, just firm. Mr. Jackson said I should treat people with more respect. He also said he knew you let me down easy because you are a good soul.”
Rosemary turned to Larry. They were almost eye to eye. Rosemary had to look down just a bit, but not nearly as much as when she talked to Jackson Jackson.
“Larry, I am sorry I disrespected you this morning. I see your point. If you work in a library then you are a librarian. And as Miss Jasmine pointed out, there is dignity in cleaning toilets.”
Larry didn’t say anything.
Miss Jasmine said, “Larry, you jackass, could you get Miss Rosemary a chair? Miss Rosemary, we are telling stories. Why don’t you join us?”
“I’d be delighted,” she said, and sat down. Kenneth brought her a glass of water.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Serving you is honorable,” Kenneth said. They both smiled. Then Larry started again:
“The bus boycott in Tallahassee started in May 1956. It was patterned after the Montgomery boycott that started when Rosa Parks was arrested in December 1955. Eventually in Montgomery four other women sued the city arguing that the bus segregation was unconstitutional. The four women won their first round in federal court but in June Montgomery appealed to the Supreme Court. Everybody had to wait for the ruling. In November 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that the Montgomery segregation was unconstitutional. Eventually this led to the Tallahassee segregation policy to also be seen as unconstitutional.”
“I thought y’all were telling stories,” said Rosemary. “This sounds more like history. And how do you know all this stuff anyway, Larry?”
“I’m Larry the Librarian. I read Miss Jasmine’s civil rights book over there from her library. What is great about books is that I wasn’t born when this stuff happened, and neither were you. But we can read about it. And the bus boycott affected everybody. How old are you anyway, Rosemary?”
“Now, Larry, you know you can’t just ask a lady her age. It’s impolite,” said Miss Jasmine.
“I was born in 1985. I’m thirty-five,” said Rosemary. “And I’m sorry I interrupted. Please continue, Larry.”
“There are a lot of details to the bus boycott. It’s complex. As Miss Jasmine says, a lot of footnotes. But details aside, the crux issue was segregation. Bus segregation was not difficult to understand. It required that no black people could stand or sit in front of the painted line near the front of the bus. Even if the bus was empty! The section in front of the line was reserved for white people. If you were black, in front of the line was illegal! What a rule!
“The entire structure of segregation was intended to keep black people in their place. To pour white people’s coffee, cook their food, and wash their clothes. Tallahassee and the South had this segregation mentality nearly a hundred years after the Civil War! White people liked to brag about good racial relations in Tallahassee. Good relations meant black people didn’t rock the boat and stayed in their place.
“Anyway, between the city and the bus company they had the rules and rationale to regulate bus seating. ‘To preserve racial harmony,’ they said. “But the most basic rule should have been, ‘Just treat everybody equally and with respect.’
“Goddammit,” said Miss Jasmine.
Rosemary looked at Miss Jasmine and laughed. Then said, “No, Larry, you don’t need a rule. It’s just common sense. Go on, Larry.”
“The Montgomery boycott put bus boycotts in the minds of black Tallahassee civic leaders. Like the Reverend C. K. Steele, about a dozen preachers, and some business people.
“But while boycotts were on the minds of these leaders, the beginning of the boycott was spontaneous. It was the end of May 1956. Some female FAMU students got on a bus to go shopping downtown, to buy things for a dance. They weren’t thinking about boycotts or protests. But the bus was crowded and two of the students sat next to a white woman because the seats were empty. The students weren’t even from Tallahassee. Maybe they didn’t know about the rule.
“The bus driver saw in his mirror that there were two Negro girls sitting next to a white woman.”
“They didn’t know their place,” interjected Miss Jasmine.
“So, the bus driver waved for them to go to the back.”
“Where they belonged!” said Miss Jasmine.
“And the girls wouldn’t move, but said if the driver returned their fare they would get off. The driver got mad, drove to a gas station, and called the police.”
“As he should have!” Miss Jasmine was in her ironic church mode, having a good time. Rosemary was smiling.
“And by 1956, guess who is chief of police. It’s Sheriff Ortega!” said Larry.
“A righteous man!” piped in Miss Jasmine.
“Three police cars show up, arrest the two students, and they both spend a night in jail. But word had gotten out to FAMU and everywhere else, and the next morning somebody had bailed them out.”
“You don’t want to sleep in no Tallahassee jail too many nights if you are black!” said Miss Jasmine. She took a sip of water. She was enjoying participating in Larry’s story.
“After the arrests, things came to fruition. All the black civic organizations and churches agreed on a boycott like the one in Montgomery. I might add, Reverand Steele was ten years older than Reverend King, but they knew each other, and they were in constant touch.”
“Another Negro who stayed in jail! A toast to Dr. King!” Miss Jasmine raised her water glass, downed it, and set it on the coffee table, as Whale meekly looked up.
“That’s how the boycott started. The idea of a boycott was in people’s minds but started with that one incident. The two students still couldn’t understand why they were arrested, and now they needed to hide and have security escorts.
“Even though Reverend Steele and Reverend King spoke frequently, the Tallahassee boycott developed independently of the Montgomery boycott. Steele’s plan was to continue the boycott, but the big picture was that he was sure the Supreme Court would strike down the segregation law, which the Court eventually did. It was six months between the Tallahassee arrests and the Supreme Court’s decision in November. But the status quo in Tallahassee did not plan to abide by the Supreme Court ruling and argued that the ruling only pertained to Montgomery.
“That meant for those six months until the court ruling came out, the Tallahassee black community had to sustain the boycott, and hope that Reverend Steele had predicted the ruling correctly.
“In Tallahassee the idea of the boycott boiled down to economics. Most of the black people in town worked for the white people and they rode the bus to get to work at the white people’s houses. The bus company was privately owned with an agreement from the city for a lease to maintain a transportation system. The lease contained the segregation rules, and those rules were treated as inviolable by the city council, chief of police, and white community in general.”
“Inviolable?” asked Rosemary. “What made it inviolable?”
“Basically, they were arguing you can’t break the rule because it’s a rule and rules can’t be broke,” said Kenneth.
Kenneth looked proud to explain this point. He said to Rosemary, “I ain’t book smart, but I’ve heard Larry tell the story over and over. Basically, the bus company wasn’t that interested in preserving segregation if it cost the business money. But the city council’s agreement with the bus company was seen as a document that could not be questioned. The bus company was stuck between the demands from both sides. Isn’t that right, Larry?”
“Damn! I didn’t know you ever paid attention, Kenneth!” Larry continued:
“The bus company was not particularly aligned with the black community. At some point, the bus company just wanted to get segregation over with and move on. But the status quo—”
“Status quo,” said Kenneth. “I know that one too. It basically means keep society the way it is. Don’t rock the boat.”
Larry paused while he thought about what to say next. Whale did not hear anybody talking and looked at Miss Jasmine.
“Go,” Miss Jasmine said. Whale ran over to Larry and barked once. Larry got up to take her out as usual.
“Let’s all take a short break,” said Miss Jasmine.