When Kip Holden was inaugurated mayor-president on Jan. 5, 2005, it was an important date in Baton Rouge’s history.It was monumental because the Democratic Holden replaced a Republican incumbent when both Rep. Richard Baker and President Bush were handily winning. Holden won with not just the support of the black community but also with the support of white suburban voters — many of whom were also Republicans. Holden was re-elected a few weeks ago with more than 70 percent of the vote — unsurprising considering his leadership during both hurricanes Katrina and Gustav.What is remarkable is that Mayor-President Holden is the first black mayor in Baton Rouge’s history.When students and teachers alike consider the American Civil Rights movement there are certain dates that are indelible.May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, KS, is the first to come to mind. This decision overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, and stated that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” and a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.Aug. 28, 1955, and the brutal murder of Emmitt Till is another important date. The Chicago native traveled to Money, Miss., to visit family. He was abducted and killed with his body thrown into the Tallahatchie River. This case received more attention when Till’s murderers were put on trial. The suspects were acquitted, and in October 1955 admitted to the murder in a nationwide article published in Look. For their confessions they received $4,000.If these two events don’t trigger some emotion, then Rosa Parks’ protest certainly should. On Dec. 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to make room for a white passenger. Though Parks was not the first black American to refuse to give up her seat, the U.S. Congress hailed her as the “Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement.” The bus upon which Parks rode is now a museum exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.Parks’ actions spurred on the Montgomery Bus Boycotts in 1956 and gave Martin Luther King a national voice.While many claim the boycott began when Parks refused to give up her seat, the actual first date of the protest was Dec. 3, 1955, and it lasted until Dec. 20, 1956. During this protest, the city of Montgomery lost significant amounts of money. Black taxi drivers charged 10 cents to each passenger, which was the same as a bus ride. Carpools began, and many black Americans began either walking or riding bikes to appointments.These are dates we must remember. But if history remembers only these events, it does a disservice to the civil rights movement.In early 1953 the Baton Rouge City Council voted to raise fares on the city buses. At the time, black passengers made up 80 percent of the riders on area public transportation. Despite the revenue they provided the city, black passengers were required to ride in the back of buses or stand while seats reserved for white riders remained empty.Opposition to the fare increase began on Feb. 11, 1953, when Rev. T. J. Jemison spoke before the Baton Rouge City Council. Jemison denounced the fare increase and asked the council to end the practice of reserved seating.His actions were rewarded on Feb. 25 when the city council unanimously passed Ordinance 222.Ordinance 222 accomplished many things for the black community. It stated that black passengers could sit in front seats as long as they didn’t occupy the same seats as — or sit in front of — white passengers. It required minority passengers to enter the bus and sit from back to front. It also said the race with the most passengers determined where the line of segregation began.Passing the law was a step, but its enforcement was a different matter altogether. For three months, the first 10 seats remained reserved for white passengers. Events reached a boiling point in June 1953 when a bus driver man-handled a black woman who refused to move from her reserved seat.This incident caused owners of the bus companies to demand their drivers enforce Ordinance 222.Elated, black riders printed copies of the new law and distributed it to the community. Jemison decided to personally test the companies. When Jemison refused to move, the driver drove to the police station so that he could be arrested. Unfortunately for the driver, the police officer ruled against him.Jemison’s protest so angered drivers, that many went on strike beginning on June 15, 1953. Four days later the state attorney general declared Ordinance 222 unconstitutional because it violated the state’s segregation laws.The ruling angered Baton Rouge’s black population.The day the strike began Jemison went on Baton Rouge radio station WLCS and announced that a boycott of the city’s bus system would begin the next day. Jemison urged all residents to stay off of the buses and promised free rides would be available. The Baton Rouge black community pulled together.The United Defense League initially sponsored nightly meetings in churches — and as the crowds grew they moved to larger venues. Citizens took up offerings to help pay for gasoline. Horatio Thompson, a service station owner, sold gasoline for what it cost him to buy it.The boycott was so successful that it forced Baton Rouge’s leaders to negotiate with Jemison. They eventually upheld the ideas expressed in Ordinance 222.The protest officially ended on June 24, 1953. Though some residents wanted to continue the protest, most in Baton Rouge applauded the agreement.Despite the fact the boycott was comparably short lived, it was highly successful.But more importantly, our community’s actions were the template for future non-violent protests in Montgomery — and helped black southerners understand that civil rights were theirs for the taking.—-Contact Matt McEntire at [email protected]