Cole S. Manley on "The Unlikely World of the Montgomery Bus Boycott"

Co-presented with the Prince George's County Office of Human Rights

Historian and author Cole S. Manley discusses "The Unlikely World of the Montgomery Bus Boycott." Co-presented with the Prince George's County Office of Human Rights and NewSouth Books.

"​The Unlikely World of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" analyzes the global influences and impact of the 1955-56 mass protest that many historians peg as the start of the twentieth-century civil rights movement. Author Cole S. Manley moves beyond the borders of Alabama, and even beyond the U.S., to investigate how Black Montgomery boycotters thought about their movement alongside global freedom struggles, from the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa to the anti-color bar battles in the United Kingdom. With each day of the year-long boycott, news of the movement traveled farther, reaching White pacifists in New York, Black internationalists in London, and, not long thereafter, anti-apartheid leaders in South Africa. Manley's book calls for a new reading of the civil rights movement, one which can encompass the expansive thinking and radical dreams of leaders like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jo Ann Robinson. The Montgomery boycott was much more than a battle over fair bus seating. It remains an example of the power of protest and solidarity which still inspires struggles for racial and economic justice.

Cole Manley is a PhD student in the History Department at the University of California, Davis, where he studies 19th and 20th century United States history. Manley completed his BA in History at Stanford University, where he worked as a research assistant at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. At the King Institute, he helped develop an online course on Dr. King’s inner life and global vision. Manley’s research on the global consciousness of Dr. King led to a Master’s thesis that became the basis for The Unlikely World of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He completed his Master’s in International and World History in a dual-degree program at Columbia University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Born in San Francisco, Manley traces his deep interest in the history of social movements to his upbringing in a family of teachers, and to parents who took him to protests from a very young age. When not reading or writing, Manley enjoys walking his dog and running on the roads and trails of northern California.

Purchase the book from Mahogany Books