Integrated Bus Suggestions by the Montgomery
Improvement Association (MIA) including Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
MS / Social Studies
Civics, Civil Disobedience, Identity, Integration,
Ask participants to define, on their own, with others, or with the help of available
resources, social change. Where do they see examples today? Where are these
needed today? The definition, examples and needs today should be noted.
Distribute the text and ask participants to anticipate what they expect this reading to be
like. Note to participants that this is a primary document from the state of Alabama
archives. Ask why that information might be important. Ask students to think about how
the text is organized and what that organization might say about it. How is it similar and
different to other texts they know? Read the text aloud whole-class.
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Integrated Bus Suggestions (December, 1956) came on the heels of a year-long strike
in Montgomery, Alabama. On December 17th the Supreme Court rejected city and state
appeals of Browder v. Gayle and ordered Montgomery’s buses desegregated.
Three days later, when the court order arrived by mail, the MIA held two mass meetings
to formally call the bus boycott to an end and prepare for the next day when the
protesters returned to the buses. After several weeks of nonviolent training sessions
attended by as many as a thousand, King and Glenn Smiley prepared these guidelines
for mass distribution.
The text is archived here:
http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/rights/lesson1/doc7.html
Provide (or mine participants for) definitions for the following vocabulary:
declared unconstitutional, integrated, boast, arrogant, boisterous, vacant, deliberately,
non-violence, oppressor, reconciliation, social change. (The facilitator will want to clarify
the term molested as it is used in this historical document.)
Additionally, students will need to deconstruct the meaning of general (v. specific), in
order to be successful in tackling discussion points, as well as the writing prompt.
(Post directions.) Have participants work in pairs to put each set of suggestions into
categories. Have students come up with 3-4 categories for the first “general
suggestions” list and a second set of 3-4 categories for the “specific suggestions” list.
Next, have participants mark words and points of interest or power (!) as well as those
that still puzzle (?), limiting these to three each. Finally, based on the text, have
students craft a possible question they could put forth in seminar or post-seminar.
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 What sentence in this text says the most about the authors of this
document? (round-robin response: have volunteer begin by simply
reading the sentence)
 What does the sentence you identified say about the authors?
(spontaneous discussion)
 #8 from the first list states, “Be loving enough to absorb evil and
understanding enough to turn the enemy into a friend.” What do you think
this means, and what might it have looked like in 1956?
 What is implied (about Whites) in the 1st general suggestion?
 In what way could you categorize these two sets of lists, with more detail
than “general” and “specific?” (Facilitator may want to implement a “turn
and talk” strategy first, and then bring participants back to whole-group
dialogue.)
 What is your reaction to the numerous calls to not brag, not be boisterous,
be courteous, etcetera?
 What is being said about the relationship between belief or faith and
behavior?
 What does the last specific suggestion (9) reveal about the author’s
position?

Based on this reading and our discussion, how does reconciliation
happen?
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Participants are encouraged to revisit notes they jotted on their text, as well as the
discussion from the Launch. Ask students to link the Launch ideas to the text and
discussion— and to consider what is necessary for reconciliation.
After reading and discussing Integrated Bus Suggestions, write your own list of
suggestions on how to achieve a needed social change. Provide general and specific
suggestions to those working to support the change. Support your writing with evidence
and references from the text. (Informational or Explanatory/Definition)
(LDC Task#:
12
)
Revisit notes from the Launch, class seminar dialogue, and the Transition to Writing.
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Allow time for all to revisit the text, and revisit a conflict where reconciliation was sought.
Have students use an organizational template as needed. Students should be clear on
their paraphrased definition of reconciliation, and be clear on (and if necessary,
research) a conflict they can envision in order to construct their general list.
Challenge all to draft their writing by careful attention to the prompt and utilizing general
statements that would encourage reconciliation. The categorization work completed
during the analytical read, and discussed in seminar, should aid greatly.
Have participants work in pairs to read their first drafts aloud to each other with
emphasis on the reader as creator and editor. The reader should make a special note to
signify to the listener the paraphrased definition of reconciliation and a compiled list
(general) of suggestions for reconciliation. After the writing is shared, have the listener
try and contextualize the content from which the reader was drawing. Lastly, the listener
asks one question for clarification.
Roles are then switched. Give time for full revisions resulting in a second draft.
Once the second draft is complete, have participants work in groups of three-four and
this time take turns reading each other’s second drafts slowly and silently, marking any
spelling or grammar errors they find with a limit of 10. (Have dictionaries and grammar
handbooks available for reference.) Take this opportunity to clarify/reteach any specific
grammar strategies you have identified your students needing. Give time for full
revisions resulting in a third and final draft.
Publish the definition with accompanying lists under the frame of “considerations for
reconciliation” and see if students can begin to situate historical events where these
considerations were implemented—or where they should have been!
Kelly Foster
National Paideia Center
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Retrieved June 2015 from: http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/rights/lesson1/doc7.html
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