joann robinson's house. it is getting pretty late now on december 1st and early december 2nd. joanne and i sat in her living room and made the plans for what we later called a protest and what people called a bus boycott. what we concluded in her living room that night and early morning was one, the community needs to be involved in it; two, that we need to try to get the community to as a protest so that the montgomery community of black and white will know that we're serious, having to stay off the buses at least for a day, as a protest, meet at a church and decide where we go from there. and that was the second thing. and i said well, that's fine. i said but if we're going to do that, if they stay off of the buses like we want them to do, we're going to have to be prepared to help them get to work and do whatever they need to do in the interim, so we're going to have to have a plan, and we're going to have to have those plans all together between now and monday morning when we're talking about doing this. as a result of that, we concluded several things: one, if we're going

there were a number of people in montgomery, black people, joann robinson, e.d. nixon, ms. parks, and claudette coleman and her family, who wanted something done about the buses. miss robinson had a personal experience in 1948 on the buses. we were keeping record of it and i knew there were people who wanted it and there would be a later date and another opportunity. that later date and opportunity came with ms. parks, on december 1, 1955. >> that is a great segue. i know you said you were meeting with her, having lunch. one of the perceptions was she was the school -- she was this quiet, timid, seamstress who decided she did not want to get up but in fact you said she was involved with the naacp and you two were talking about what to do and what not to do. when she sat down, were you ready and waiting for the call? tell us about that. >> on december 1, it was a to sip -- a typical december day in alabama. i told miss parks, when we finished, i had to go out of town. i wanted her to know that i would not be there. while she never told me that if she received the opportunity

black community even was quite ready for it, but there were some people as a result of that case, joanne robinson taught at alabama state, and i had known her since the time i was in college there, she had an appointment with the bus company officials and with the city officials about the claudette colvin case, and that -- while african americans were about 75% of the patrons being mistreated. she wanted to get them better treatment. they said they were sorry about what happened and they would see that didn't happen again, but that was the end of that. but i knew as a result of that, this there were a number of people in montgomery, black people, jo ann robinson, e.d. nixon, mrs. parks, and claudette colvin and her family who wanted something done about the buses. and mrs. robinson after setting up that meeting, she had had a personal experience back in 1948 on the buses. we would keep a record of it, and i knew there were some people who wanted it, and there would be a later date and another opportunity, and that opportunity came with mrs. parks on december 1, 1955. >> that's a great segue, and