Montgomery

Montgomery was a city in Alabama, in the United States. Here, Rosa Parks started the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. (TV: Rosa)

History
By at least 1943, racial segregation was present in Montgomery. Black people and Mexicans were often forced to use separate facilities from the whites. Black people had to enter through and sit at the back of the bus. Diners such as Slim's Bar and motels such as the Sahara Springs Motel could deny customers on the basis of their race. According to Police Officer Mason, it was a criminal offence to harbour non-white individuals on segregated premises.

Not everyone in Montgomery accepted the racial tensions in the city. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King attempted to advance life for the black citizens of the city.

Krasko, an escaped prisoner from the Stormcage Containment Facility, travelled to Montgomery from the future via vortex manipulator to prevent the rise of the Civil Rights Movement taking place as a direct result of the Bus Boycott.

The Thirteenth Doctor's TARDIS arrived in Montgomery on 30 November, 1955 due to residual Artron energy while she was trying to return her companions to 21st century Sheffield. The Doctor, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan and Graham O'Brien soon experienced the city's racism first-hand when Ryan was slapped in the face by a passerby and threatened with lynching after trying to return a glove to his wife. Rosa Parks intervened by telling Mr. Steele that his suit would be ready soon, and explained that outsiders were not safe from racism in the American south, citing the death of the northern Emmett Till in Mississippi.

Krasko was defeated by Ryan Sinclair who sent him into the past, but his scheme to prevent Parks's legacy was already underway. He had given the day off to bus driver James Blake, who eventually went in to work after Ryan and Graham spread rumours of black protest action. Parks was also made sure to take the right bus on time after leaving work as a seamstress after the Doctor and Yaz gave her their clothes to mend.

To make sure that the bus was crowded enough that Parks would be forced to move back, the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham were present when Parks was asked to move back to make space for the white Graham on 1 December, 1955. Parks refused, and Blake called the police who soon arrested her.

On 5 December, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began due to Parks's arrest, and black citizens refused to use the buses for over a year. As a direct result, segregation of buses ended on the December 21st, 1956, ushering in the Civil Rights Movement across the United States and led by the city's Baptist minister, Martin Luther King. (TV: Rosa)