Many pinpoint the start of the Civil Rights movement in the United States to Rosa Parks, refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, back in 1955. Over half-a-century later, African-American and Latino communities are still struggling with unequal transit systems.
Clayton County, Georgia, was considered a white community in the 1970s. Residents refused to take part in Atlanta’s public transportation system, MARTA. In 2011, Clayton County is now mostly black, and their bus system no longer exists, having been eliminated due to budget cuts last year.
Transportation Nation, a public radio reporting project on transportation and infrastructure, covers this subject matter in their new documentary, Back of the Bus. Andrea Bernstein, director of Transportation Nation and Angela Glover Blackwell, founder the the think tank, PolicyLink discuss the story.