The Montgomery Bus Boycott nearly collapsed from internal exhaustion before victory

Evidence

I also learned something not taught about the boycott. According to my mom and uncle Renty “Willie,” the Black people of Montgomery had grown weary, and walking had become overly burdensome. Fights were erupting as people were threatening to get back on the buses. Renty “Willie” described a scene where mayhem broke out and no one could separate the two opposing sides. My uncle said that from out of nowhere, Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out and shouted, “Y’all go home! Go home.” “And just like that,” Renty “Willie” explained, “the folks parted like the Red Sea.” Both my mom and uncle were certain that had the bus boycott gone on for much longer, the Black people would have abandoned the campaign and returned to riding the bus. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1079

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the standard heroic narrative of the boycott as sustained conviction — connects to studies of movement fatigue in social-movement theory.
• QUESTION: This insider account suggests the movement’s fragility; worth checking corroborating histories of the boycott’s internal pressures.