How did the bus boycott set the stage for the American civil rights movement?
SB: The bus boycott brought into being the strategies and methodology, support networks and alliances, language and vision, politics and spirituality that helped generate the ensuing mass movement. It showed the power, efficacy, and potential of mass nonviolent direct action in the American context. It set the standard for a democratic grassroots movement in which leadership was ever more widely shared. It proved that ordinary people could behold the beloved community by building it, day by day, in the storm of heartfelt struggle. NB: Why is it important for young people to read about these events? SB: As my book makes clear, the Montgomery bus boycott was created and sustained by inspirational role models of every class and complexion. Young people in their teens and twenties played vital roles in the unfolding drama, starting with Claudette Colvin (15) and Mary Louise Smith (18), and the Alabama State students who started their own bus boycott nearly two years before Rosa Parks was a
