"Women's Political Council"

Founded in Montgomery,Alabama,was an organization that was part of  the African-American Civil Rights Movement.Members included Mary Fair Burks,Joann Robinson,Irene West,Uretta Adair.WPC was the first group to officially call for a boycott of the bus system during the Montgomery Busy Boycott.The WPC formed in 1946 as a civil organization for African American professional women in the city of Montgomery,Alabama.It was inspired by the Atlanta Neighborhood Union,with which it shared middle-class membership with many of the members active in education;most of the WPC'S members were educators at Alabama State College or Montgomery's public schools.There were about forty members in attendance at the first organizational Mary Fair Burks,who was head of Alabama's States'sEnglish department,was the group's first president.The WPC'S first undertaking was to register to vote,which was difficult because of a literacy test designed to make sure blacks wouldn't be able to vote.All the WPC members eventually passed the test and then they opened up schools to help other blacks fill out registration forms and pass the literacy test.In 1950,Mary decided to step from the presidency.She remained active in the WPC,but simply did not want to be president any longer.Joann succeeded Mary as president.It was during Joann's presidency that the WPC began to focus its effort  on bus abuses.During this time time,the WPC began planting the seeds which would eventually lead to a mass movement against segregation on Montgomery's public buses.First,members appeared before the City Commission to report abuses on the buses,to which the commission acted surprised but did nothing.In 1953,Joann and other black leaders met with the three commissioners of Montgomery.They complained that the city refused  to hire black bus drivers,denounced segregation on the buses,and complained that bus stops in black neighborhoods were farther apart in white ones.The commissioners refused to change anything,and so Joann and the other members met with bus company officials on their own.The segregation issue was deflected as bus company officials said that segregation is city and state law.The WPC did achieve a small victory from that meeting,as the bus company officials agreed to have the buses stop at at every corner in black neighborhoods,as they already did in white neighborhoods.In May 1954,shortly after Brown v.Board of Education decision was announced,Joann wrote a letter to Mayor W.A.Gayle saying that there was growing support amongst local organizations for a bus boycott.By 1955,there was growing dissatisfaction with the segregated bus system.The WPC decided that when the right person got arrested,they would initiate a boycott.When Claudette Colvin,a fifteen-year-old high school student was arrested for refusing to give up her seat,the WPC and other local organizations began to discuss ideas for a boycott.It was soon discovered Claudette a was pregnant,and so these were abandoned for fear that religious and conservative blacks would not support her.Others after Claudette had gotten arrested for refusing to leave their seat,it wasn't until Rosa Parks'arrest in December of that year that the WPC and other local organizations decided it was the right time to garner support for a citywide bus boycott.The night of Rosa arrest,Joann called the other WPC leaders,and they agreed that this was the right for a bus boycott.Joann stayed up all night mimeographing 35,000 handbills at Alabama State College.She called students and arranged to meet them at elementary and high schools in the morning.She then drove to various schools to drop the handbills off to the students who would distribute them in the schools and ask other students to bring them to their parents.The handbill asked African-Americans to boycott the buses the following Monday in support of Rosa.By Friday night,thanks to Joann handbills,word had spread all over the city.That same night,local ministers and civil rights leaders held a meeting with Rev.L Roy Bennett announced that the boycott would be on for Monday and that other ministers should urge their congregations to take part.Some ministers were hesitant to engage in a boycott,and about half left the meeting in frustration.Those Who stayed,agreeded  to the boycott and helped spread the world.They decided to hold a mass meeting in Monday night to decide of the boycott should continue.After the success of the Monday boycott,those at the Monday night meeting decide to contine the boycott.They established the Montgomery Improvement Association to focus on the boycott and elected the Rev.Martin Luther King,Jr.as President.Joann became a member,served on the group's executive board,and edited their newspaper.In order to protect her position at Alabama State College and to protect her colleagues,Joann purposely stayed out of the limelight even thought she worked diligently with the MIA.She and other WPC members also helped sustain the boycott by providing transportation for boycotters.