On trial in Montgomery was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 27, pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and leader of the Negro boycott against the Montgomery bus company (TIME, Jan. 16 et seq.}. King was the first of 90 defendants (including 24 ministers) to be tried under an Alabama law (enacted in 1921 as an antilabor measure) making it a misdemeanor to conspire "without a just cause or legal excuse" to hinder any company in its conduct of business.
snip.
Heart & Pocketbook. As a witness, Defendant King argued that the boycott began spontaneously, that he had not instigated it but had become its spokesman after it had already developed. It did not take Judge Carter long to hand down his verdict (King had waived a jury trial): King was found guilty, fined $500, assessed $500 in court costs, and released on bond pending appeal. The crowd flowed out in front of the courthouse, surrounding King and his wife. A gold-toothed woman shouted: "We ain't going to ride the buses now for sure." A middle-aged woman told King: "My heart and my pocketbook are at your disposal." A mass prayer meeting was set for that night. A man yelled to the crowd: "You going to be there?" Chorused the crowd: "Yes!" The same man shouted: "You going to ride the buses?" Roared the crowd: "No!" The old courthouse, which had never heard such sounds from Negroes, would never be the same again.
Read more:
National Affairs: New Sounds In a Courthouse - TIME