Signpost to Freedom: The 1953 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott recounts the circumstances and events that led to the nation's first large-scale boycott protesting segregation and then examines its impact on the evolution of grassroots civil rights activism across the country during the early years of America's Civil Rights Movement. Signpost also examines the boycott's relevance in the adoption of a strategy of non-violent, mass civil disobedience in early civil rights protest, and the emerging role of the black church in the movement's leadership. In 1953, Rev. T.J. Jemison was a Baton Rouge newcomer, but not unknown. His father had been the president of the National Baptist Convention, the largest African-American organization in the world. In 1949, Jemison arrived in Baton Rouge to take over the state's largest and most prominent black church, Mt. Zion First Baptist Church. At the time, Baton Rouge and the surrounding community were home to numerous voters leagues and dozens of massive church congregations. As the African American community increasingly called for action against Baton Rouge's bus company, Jemison emerged as an obvious spokesman. His outsider status and his financial independence as a minister shielded him from economic retribution. His family's national status gave him notoriety within the black community. His dynamic oratory skills galvanized and motivate boycott participants. Once the boycott was underway, Jemison's rousing sermons to gatherings of thousands of boycotters called for solidarity, peace and lawfulness above all else. This peaceful boycott, proved to be a surprisingly powerful and disarming weapon in the face of such a basic injustice. Note: Rev. T.J. Jemison died Friday, November 15, 2013 at the age of 95.
Narrator: James A. Joseph