Montgomery bus boycott Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==History== Under the system of segregation used on Montgomery buses, the ten front seats were reserved for white people at all times. The ten back seats were supposed to be reserved for black people at all times. The middle section of the bus consisted of sixteen unreserved seats for white and black people on a segregated basis.<ref>''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'', 142 F. Supp. 707 (1956)</ref> White people filled the middle seats from the front to back, and black people filled seats from the back to front until the bus was full. If other black people boarded the bus, they were required to stand. If another white person boarded the bus, then everyone in the black row nearest the front had to get up and stand so that a new row for white people could be created; it was illegal for white and black people to sit next to each other. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person, she was sitting in the first row of the middle section.<ref>{{cite web|title=Smithsonian Source|url=http://www.smithsoniansource.org/display/primarysource/viewdetails.aspx?PrimarySourceId=1203 |website=www.smithsoniansource.org}}</ref> Often when boarding the buses, black people were required to pay at the front, get off, and reenter the bus through a separate door at the back.<ref>Garrow (1986) p. 13. David Garrow wrote, "Mrs. [Rosa] Parks once told ... how she had been physically thrown off a bus some ten years earlier when, after paying her fare at the front of the bus, she had refused to get off and reenter by the back door -- a custom often inflicted on black riders."</ref> Occasionally, bus drivers would drive away before black passengers were able to reboard.<ref>[[William J. Cooper, Jr.]], Thomas E. Terrill, ''The American South: A History'', Volume II, 4 ed., Rowman and Littlefield, 2009, p. 730.</ref> [[National City Lines]] owned the Montgomery Bus Line at the time of the Montgomery bus boycott.<ref>The company was sold to the City of Montgomery in 1974 and become the [[Montgomery Area Transit System]]</ref> Under the leadership of [[Walter Reuther]], the [[United Auto Workers]] donated almost $5,000 ({{Inflation|US|5000|1955|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) to the boycott's organizing committee.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boyle|first=Kevin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mt4ZDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 |title=The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945β1968|date=November 21, 1995|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-1-5017-1327-9|pages=121|language=en}}</ref> ===Rosa Parks=== {{Main|Rosa Parks}} [[File:Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by Deputy Sheriff D.H. Lackey after being arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger on a segregated municipal bus in Montgomery, Alabama.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by Deputy Sheriff D.H. Lackey after her arrest for boycotting public transportation]] [[Rosa Parks]] (February 4, 1913 β October 24, 2005) was a [[Sewing|seamstress]] by profession; she was also the secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]]. Twelve years before her history-making arrest, Parks was stopped from boarding a city bus by driver [[James F. Blake]], who ordered her to board at the rear door and then drove off without her. Parks vowed never again to ride a bus driven by Blake. As a member of the NAACP, Parks was an investigator assigned to cases of sexual assault. In 1945, she was sent to [[Abbeville, Alabama]], to investigate the gang rape of [[Recy Taylor]]. The protest that arose around the Taylor case was the first instance of a nationwide civil rights protest, and it laid the groundwork for the Montgomery bus boycott.<ref>{{cite book|last=McGuire|first=Danielle L.|title=At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power|year=2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-307-26906-5|page=8 and 39}}</ref> [[File:Rosaparks busdiagram.jpg|thumb|A diagram showing where Rosa Parks sat in the unreserved section at the time of her arrest]] In 1955, Parks completed a course in "Race Relations" at the [[Highlander Research and Education Center|Highlander Folk School]] in Tennessee, where [[nonviolent]] [[civil disobedience]] had been discussed as a tactic. On December 1, 1955, Parks was sitting in the foremost row in which black people could sit (in the middle section). When a white man boarded the bus, the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back. At that moment, Parks realized that she was again on a bus driven by Blake. While all of the other black people in her row complied, Parks refused, and she was arrested<ref>{{cite web |title=Rosa Park's arrest report |date=December 1, 1955 |url=http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/rosa_parks_arrest_report.pdf |access-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022072358/http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/rosa_parks_arrest_report.pdf |archive-date=October 22, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> for failing to obey the driver's seat assignments, as city ordinances did not explicitly mandate segregation but did give the bus driver authority to assign seats. Found guilty on December 5,<ref>[http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0303225-00 "Parks, Rosa Louise." Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Online]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=Balon Greyjoy |fix-attempted=yes }} (accessed May 8, 2009).</ref> Parks was fined $10 plus a court cost of $4''<ref name="globe">{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/10/25/rosa_parks_civil_rights_icon_dead_at_92/?page=3 |title=Rosa Parks, civil rights icon, dead at 92 - The Boston Globe |newspaper=Boston.com |date=October 25, 2005 |access-date=September 28, 2012|last1=Feeney |first1=Mark }}</ref>'' (combined total {{Inflation|US|14|1955|fmt=eq}}), and she appealed.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Digital History|url=https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=3&psid=1142|access-date=January 22, 2021|website=www.digitalhistory.uh.edu}}</ref> This movement also sparked riots leading up to the [[1956 Sugar Bowl]].<ref>{{Cite news | last = Thamel | first = Pete |author-link=Pete Thamel | title = Grier Integrated a Game and Earned the World's Respect | newspaper = New York Times | date = 2006-01-01 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/sports/ncaafootball/01grier.html | access-date=2009-04-15 }}</ref> ===E. D. Nixon=== Some action against segregation had been in the works for some time before Parks' arrest, under the leadership of [[Edgar Nixon|E. D. Nixon]], president of the local [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]] chapter and a member of the [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]. Nixon intended that her arrest be a [[Test case (law)|test case]] to allow Montgomery's black citizens to challenge segregation on the city's public buses. With this goal, community leaders had been waiting for the right person to be arrested, a person who would anger the black community into action, who would agree to test the segregation laws in court, and who, most importantly, was "above reproach". When Colvin was arrested in March 1955, Nixon thought he had found the perfect person, but the teenager turned out to be pregnant. Nixon later explained, "I had to be sure that I had somebody I could win with." Parks was a good candidate because of her employment and marital status, along with her good standing in the community.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jackson|first=Joelle|date=2011-05-31|title=E.D. Nixon (1899-1987) β’|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/nixon-e-d-nixon-1899-1987/|access-date=2021-08-24|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1987-02-27|title=E.D. Nixon, leader in civil rights, dies|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/27/obituaries/ed-nixon-leader-in-civil-rights-dies.html|access-date=2021-08-24|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Between Parks' arrest and trial, Nixon organized a meeting of local ministers at Martin Luther King Jr.'s church. Though Nixon could not attend the meeting because of his work schedule, he arranged that no election of a leader for the proposed boycott would take place until his return. When he returned, he caucused with [[Ralph Abernathy]] and Rev. E.N. French to name the association to lead the boycott to the city (they selected the "[[Montgomery Improvement Association]]", "MIA"), and they selected King (Nixon's choice) to lead the boycott. Nixon wanted King to lead the boycott because the young minister was new to Montgomery and the city fathers had not had time to intimidate him. At a subsequent, larger meeting of ministers, Nixon's agenda was threatened by the clergymen's reluctance to support the campaign. Nixon was indignant, pointing out that their poor congregations worked to put money into the collection plates so these ministers could live well, and when those congregations needed the clergy to stand up for them, those comfortable ministers refused to do so. Nixon threatened to reveal the ministers' cowardice to the black community, and King spoke up, denying he was afraid to support the boycott. King agreed to lead the MIA, and Nixon was elected its treasurer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-this-exhibition/early-life-and-activism/activist-e-d-nixon/|title = Activist e. D. Nixon | Early Life and Activism | Explore | Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words | Exhibitions at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress|website = [[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> ===Boycott=== [[Image:Rosa Parks Bus.jpg|thumb|The [[National City Lines]] bus, No. 2857, on which Rosa Parks rode before she was arrested (a [[GM "old-look" transit bus]], serial number 1132), is now on exhibit at the [[Henry Ford Museum]].]] On the night of Parks' arrest, the [[Women's Political Council]], led by [[Jo Ann Robinson]], printed and circulated a flyer throughout Montgomery's black community that read as follows: <blockquote>Another woman has been arrested and thrown in jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down. It is the second time since the [[Claudette Colvin]] case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing. This has to be stopped. Negroes have rights too, for if Negroes did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are Negro, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother. This woman's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere on Monday. You can afford to stay out of school for one day if you have no other way to go except by bus. You can also afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off all buses Monday.<ref name="globe"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/leaflet_dont_ride_the_bus_come_to_a_mass_meeting_on_5_december/ |title=Leaflet, "Don't Ride the Bus", Come to a Mass Meeting on 5 December |publisher=Mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu |access-date=2014-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155441/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/leaflet_dont_ride_the_bus_come_to_a_mass_meeting_on_5_december/ |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote> The next morning there was a meeting led by the new Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) head, King, where a group of 16 to 18 people gathered at the [[AME Zion|Mt. Zion Church]] to discuss boycott strategies. At that time [[Rosa Parks]] was introduced but not asked to speak, despite a standing ovation and calls from the crowd for her to speak; she asked someone if she should say something, but they replied, "Why, you've said enough."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwVbfvfYEZkC&q=rosa+parks+%22You've+said+enough%22&pg=PA408 |title=Civil Rights History from the Ground Up: Local Struggles, a National Movement - Google Books |access-date=June 5, 2014|isbn=9780820338651 |year=2011 |last1=Crosby |first1=Emilye |publisher=University of Georgia Press }}</ref> A citywide boycott of public transit was proposed, with three demands: 1) courteous treatment by bus operators, 2) passengers seated on a first-come, first-served basis, with black people seated in the back half and white people seated in the front half, and 3) black people would be employed as bus operators on routes predominately taken by black people.<ref>{{Cite web|title=African Americans boycott buses for integration in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S., 1955-1956 {{!}} Global Nonviolent Action Database|url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/african-americans-boycott-buses-integration-montgomery-alabama-us-1955-1956|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu}}</ref> This demand was a compromise for the leaders of the boycott, who believed that the city of Montgomery would be more likely to accept it rather than a demand for full integration of the buses. In this respect, the MIA leaders followed the pattern of 1950s boycott campaigns in the [[Deep South]], including the successful boycott a few years earlier of service stations in [[Mississippi]] for refusing to provide restrooms for Black people. The organizer of that campaign, [[T. R. M. Howard]] of the [[Regional Council of Negro Leadership]], had spoken on the lynching of [[Emmett Till]] as King's guest at the [[Dexter Avenue Baptist Church]] only four days before Parks's arrest. Parks was in the audience and later said that Emmett Till was on her mind when she refused to give up her seat.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beito|first1=David T.|title=Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power|last2=Beito|first2=Linda Royster|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2009|location=Urbana|pages=139}}</ref> The MIA's demand for a fixed dividing line was to be supplemented by a requirement that all bus passengers receive courteous treatment by bus operators, be seated on a first-come, first-served basis, and that Black people be employed as bus drivers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jakoubek|first=Robert|title=Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Leader|year=1989|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|location=Philadelphia|page=49}}</ref> The proposal was passed, and the boycott was to commence the following Monday. To publicize the impending boycott it was advertised at black churches throughout Montgomery the following Sunday.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=University|first1=Β© Stanford|last2=Stanford|last3=California 94305|date=April 26, 2017|title=Montgomery Bus Boycott|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/montgomery-bus-boycott|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en}}</ref> On Saturday, December 3, it was evident that the black community would support the boycott, and very few Black people rode the buses that day. On December 5, a mass meeting was held at the [[Holt Street Baptist Church]] to determine if the protest would continue.<ref name="Phibbs">{{cite book | last = Phibbs | first = Cheryl Fisher | title = The Montgomery Bus Boycott: A History and Reference Guide | publisher = ABC-CLIO | year = 2009 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HKPtlNXNILsC&pg=PP1 | pages = 19| isbn = 9780313358876 }}</ref> Given twenty minutes notice, King gave a speech<ref>{{cite web |author=Martin Luther King |publisher=Stanford University |title=Address to the first Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/the_addres_to_the_first_montgomery_improvement_association_mia_mass_meeting/ |access-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206202721/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/the_addres_to_the_first_montgomery_improvement_association_mia_mass_meeting/ |archive-date=December 6, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> asking for a bus boycott and attendees enthusiastically agreed. Starting December 7, [[J Edgar Hoover|J Edgar Hoover's]] [[FBI]] noted the "agitation among negroes" and tried to find "derogatory information" about King.<ref>{{cite web |title=To J.Edgar Hoover from Special Agent in Charge |publisher=Stanford University |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/to_j_edgar_hoover_from_special_agent_in_charge/ |access-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207065906/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/to_j_edgar_hoover_from_special_agent_in_charge/ |archive-date=December 7, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The boycott proved extremely effective, with enough riders lost to the city transit system to cause serious economic distress. Martin Luther King later wrote, "[a] miracle had taken place." Instead of riding buses, boycotters organized a system of carpools, with car owners volunteering their vehicles or themselves driving people to various destinations. Some white housewives also drove their black domestic servants to work. When the city pressured local insurance companies to stop insuring cars used in the carpools, the boycott leaders arranged policies at [[Lloyd's of London]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gbQHxb_P0QC&pg=RA2-PA360 |title=Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present |last=Finkleman |first=Paul |page=360 |year=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195167795 }}</ref> Black [[taxicab|taxi]] drivers charged ten cents per ride, a fare equal to the cost to ride the bus, in support of the boycott. When word of this reached city officials on December 8, the order went out to fine any cab driver who charged a rider less than 45 cents. In addition to using private [[motor vehicles]], some people used non-motorized means to get around, such as cycling, walking, or even riding mules or driving horse-drawn buggies. Some people also hitchhiked. During rush hours, sidewalks were often crowded. As the buses received few, if any, passengers, their officials asked the City Commission to allow stopping service to black communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/article_overview.htm |title=Montgomery Bus Boycott: The story of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement |publisher=Montgomeryboycott.com |access-date=September 28, 2012}}</ref> Across the nation, black churches raised money to support the boycott and collected new and slightly used shoes to replace the tattered footwear of Montgomery's black citizens, many of whom walked everywhere rather than ride the buses and submit to [[Jim Crow law]]s.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} In response, opposing whites swelled the ranks of the [[Citizens' Councils|White Citizens' Council]], the membership of which doubled during the course of the boycott. The councils sometimes resorted to violence: King's and Abernathy's houses were [[Firebombing|firebombed]], as were four black Baptist churches. Boycotters were often physically attacked. After the attack at King's house, he gave a speech to the 300 angry African Americans who had gathered outside. He said: {{Blockquote|If you have weapons, take them home; if you do not have them, please do not seek to get them. We cannot solve this problem through retaliatory violence. We must meet violence with nonviolence. Remember the words of Jesus: "He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword". We must love our white brothers, no matter what they do to us. We must make them know that we love them. Jesus still cries out in words that echo across the centuries: "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; pray for them that despitefully use you". This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love. Remember, if I am stopped, this movement will not stop, because God is with the movement. Go home with this glowing faith and this radiant assurance.<ref>{{cite book|last=Darby|first=Jean|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|year=1990|publisher=Lerner Publishing Group|location=Minneapolis|isbn=0-8225-4902-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00darb/page/41 41β42]|url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00darb/page/41}}</ref>}} King and 88 other boycott leaders and carpool drivers were indicted<ref>{{cite web|url=http://studythepast.com/civilrights/cases/montgomery_bus_boycott.pdf |title=Montgomery, Ala., Bus Boycott |access-date=September 28, 2012}}</ref> for conspiring to interfere with a business under a 1921 ordinance.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/state-alabama-v-m-l-king-jr-nos-7399-and-9593|title=State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr., Nos. 7399 and 9593 |date=July 7, 2017 |publisher=kinginstitute.stanford.edu |access-date=December 4, 2019 }}</ref> Rather than wait to be arrested, they turned themselves in as an act of defiance.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-02-22|title=Remembering the Montgomery Bus Boycott|url=https://uaw.org/remembering-the-montgomery-bus-boycott/|access-date=2021-05-07|website=UAW|language=en-US}}</ref> King was ordered to pay a $500 fine or serve 386 days in jail. He ended up spending two weeks in jail. The move backfired by bringing national attention to the protest. King commented on the arrest by saying: "I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/honormlk/mlklife1.htm |title=The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Part 1 of 2) | Scholastic.com |publisher=Teacher.scholastic.com |access-date=September 28, 2012}}</ref> Also important during the bus boycott were grassroots activist groups that helped to catalyze both fund-raising and morale. Groups such as the [[Georgia Gilmore|Club from Nowhere]] helped to sustain the boycott by finding new ways of raising money and offering support to boycott participants.<ref>{{cite book|last=McGuire|first=Danielle|title=At the Dark End of the Stree|year=2010|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=978-0-307-26906-5|pages=96β97}}</ref> Many members of these organizations were women and their contributions to the effort have been described by some as essential to the success of the bus boycott.<ref>{{cite web|title= Interview with Georgia Gilmore, conducted by Blackside, Inc. on February 17, 1986, for Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954-1965)|url= http://digital.wustl.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eop;cc=eop;rgn=main;view=text;idno=gil0015.0383.041|publisher= Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection |access-date=November 26, 2011|author=Blackside, Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=McGuire|first=Danielle|title=At the Dark End of the Street|url=https://archive.org/details/atdarkendofstree0000mcgu|url-access=registration|year=2010|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=978-0-307-26906-5}}{{page needed|date=November 2014}}</ref> ===Victory=== [[File:381 days 01.jpg|thumb|[[Smithsonian Institution]] traveling exhibition<ref name="381 Days" /> "381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott" at the [[Washington State History Museum]]]] Pressure increased across the country. The related civil suit was heard in federal district court and, on June 5, 1956, the court ruled in ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'' (1956) that Alabama's racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web |title=Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 (M.D. Ala. 1956) |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/142/707/2263463/ |website=Justia US law |access-date=June 23, 2020}}</ref> As the state appealed the decision, the boycott continued. The case moved on to the [[United States Supreme Court]]. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gayle v. Browder |url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1956/342 |website=Oyez |access-date=June 27, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Browder v. Gayle, 352 U.S. 903 |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/browder-v-gayle-352-us-903 |website=[[Stanford University]] |date=April 24, 2017 |access-date=January 18, 2021}}</ref> The bus boycott officially ended on December 20, 1956, after 382<ref>{{cite book|title=Once We Walked: A Calendar Commemorating the 382 Days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-56|year=2005|publisher=NewSouth Books|location=Montgomery|pages=31}}</ref> days. The Montgomery bus boycott resounded far beyond the desegregation of public buses. It stimulated activism and participation from the South in the national '''Civil Rights Movement''' and gave King national attention as a rising leader.<ref name="381 Days">{{cite web|title=381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story |url=http://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibits/381/main.htm |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |website=sites.si.edu |access-date=March 31, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110316172049/http://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibits/381/main.htm |archive-date=March 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>Wright, H. R: ''The Birth of the Montgomery Bus Boycott'', page 123. Charro Book Co., Inc., 1991. {{ISBN|0-9629468-0-X}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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