Montgomery Improvement Association

American organization

Also known as: MIA

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June 30, 2026

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The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was an organization formed in Montgomery, Alabama, during the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955–56. This boycott was a pivotal event in the American civil rights movement, sparked by Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger. The MIA, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., organized and sustained the 381-day protest against the city's bus segregation laws. The boycott's success led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring bus segregation unconstitutional and brought King to national prominence. The Women's Political Council, an organization of African American professional women, played a crucial role in initiating the boycott and supported the MIA's efforts.12

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Rosa Parks
Montgomery bus boycott
Under the aegis of the Montgomery Improvement Association—led by the young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr.—a boycott of the municipal bus company began on December 5. African Americans constituted some 70 percent of the ridership, and the absence of their bus fares cut deeply…
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Under the aegis of the Montgomery Improvement Association—led by the young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr.—a boycott of the municipal bus company began on December 5. African Americans constituted some 70 percent of the ridership, and the absence of their bus fares cut deeply…
Read More

Montgomery bus boycott
…of local ministers formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to support and sustain the boycott and the legal challenge to the segregation laws. Martin Luther King, the charismatic young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, was elected president of the MIA. A powerful orator, he was new to the…
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…of local ministers formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to support and sustain the boycott and the legal challenge to the segregation laws. Martin Luther King, the charismatic young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, was elected president of the MIA. A powerful orator, he was new to the…
Read More

Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Montgomery bus boycott
Activists formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to boycott the transit system and chose King as their leader. He had the advantage of being a young, well-trained man who was too new in town to have made enemies; he was generally respected, and it was thought that his family…
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Activists formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to boycott the transit system and chose King as their leader. He had the advantage of being a young, well-trained man who was too new in town to have made enemies; he was generally respected, and it was thought that his family…
Read More