The Montgomery Improvement Association

The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 5, 1955, to direct the black boycott of the city’s segregated buses. Martin Luther King, Jr., was elected its president, and Rosa Parks served on the executive board of directors. She also worked briefly as a dispatcher for the MIA Transportation Committee. In this capacity, she was responsible for connecting people who needed rides with the drivers of private cars and church station wagons. In these notes Rosa describes the creation of this volunteer transportation system and offers detailed instructions to riders and drivers to resolve “Transportation Problems.”