Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama on December1,1955 for refusing to give her bus seat to a Caucasian (white) person. Four days later eighteen African Americans (black) persons founded the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 
    During the founding meeting of the Montgomery Improvement Associaton (MIA) Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was elected President, Uriah J. Fields, pastor of Bell Street Baptist Church, was elected Secretary, E. D. Nixon, a Pullman Car Porter and founder of the Montgomery Division of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters were elected Treasurer of the MIA. Ralph d. Abernaty, pastor of the First Baptist Church was selected to chair a committee to draw-up Resolutions that were presented to more than 4,000 people who gathered inside and outside of Holt Street Baptist Church, A.W. Wilson, pastor, who  by vote approved conducting the Montgomery  Bus Boycott. Two days later these Resolutions were presented to the City Officials of Montgomery and President of Montgomery City Lines of Chicago, owner of buses operating in Montgomery.
   In the photo from left to right (may not be included here but is shown on Facebook) are: Fred Gray, Attorney for the MIA, Ralph David Abernathy, Robert S. Graetz, (not present at the founding meeting but soon thereafter figured prominently in the leadership of the bus boycott) of the MIA), and Uriah J Fields.
    During the bus boycott homes of King, Gaetz, Nixon and Abernathy were bombed. In the wee hours of a single morning four churches and two parsonages were bombed. Bell Street Baptist Church was the worst destroyed of the four churches. In his book, "Parting the Waters," Branch Taylor writes: "Bell Street Baptist Church suffered the worst destruction on the night of the bombs" (p.200). This church had to be rebuilt. Sixteen months after this church was bombed the congregation and friends entered the new sanctuary of Bell Street Baptist Church. Fields continued to serve as pastor of this Church for the next four years.
    (If photo of these leaders are not shown here, view it on: Facebook.com.uriah.j.fields.)

Copyright 2021 by Uriah J. Fields