Actors Jeffrey Wright and Terrence Howard as Martin Luther King, Jr and Ralph Abernathy - Two light brown black men in suits and ties, both with mustaches. Interior church pulpit backdrop — Jeffrey Wright as Martin Luther King, Jr, and Terrence Howard as Ralph Abernathy in the 2001 HBO film *BOYCOTT*

We've been seeing and hearing calls for boycotts in 2025, the 70th anniversary year of the Montgomery Bus Boycott -- a good time to revisit this story and the BOYCOTT film to see the nuts and bolts of how everyday people build justice movements.

Directed by Clark Johnson and based on the book Daybreak of Freedom by Stewart Burns BOYCOTT chronicles the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, where a 26-year old minister named Martin Luther King ,Jr (Jeffrey Wright) was called by the community to lead a local movement that ended segregation on public transportation in Montgomery and throughout the United States.

In addition to Jeffrey Wright, the film features Terrence Howard as Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Carmen Ejogo as Corretta Scott King, CCH Pounder as Jo Ann Robinson, Eric Dellums as Bayard Rustin, Iris Little-Thomas as Rosa Parks, and Reg E. Cathay (Cath-ay) as union organizer E.D. Nixon.

Boycotts have been a strategy and tactic for advancing social and economic justice, especially when laws, courts, or government are not on the people's side as they were for Black citizens in 1955. In the podcast Michon and Taquiena tell you why they highly recommend the film.

WHERE TO FIND BOYCOTT: BOYCOTT is available for streaming on MAX (HBO). It’s also available for purchase or rental from streaming platforms (do a search). You may also find BOYCOTT on DVD at local libraries

Hosts **Michon and Taquiena Boston**, *Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters*

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Click on the book covers to order one or more of the books mentioned in this podcast including Daybreak of Freedom by Stewart Burns, memoirs about the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story) via bookshop[dot]org. Purchases support independent booksellers and this podcast.

Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching by Deborah L. Menkart, Alana D. Murray, and Jenice View is available from Teaching for Change (not affiliated with the podcast).

Past podcasts about the Civil Rights Movement

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Ep. 67 - From the Watchlist - BOYCOTT

The Boston Sisters have selected BOYCOTT from their historical drama watchlist for a conversation about the film, the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and the nuts and bolts that built a local movement that ended segregation on public transportation in Montgomery and nationwide.

Ep. 59 - It’s a Monumental Time for SHIRLEY

SHIRLEY, featuring Oscar winner Regina King as New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, tells the story of the first Black congresswoman and political icon and her trailblazing 1972 run for president of the United States. Our guest is Dr. Zinga A. Fraser, a foremost expert on Shirley Chisholm, Director of the Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women’s Activism, and the historical consultant for the Netflix feature SHIRLEY.

Ep. 47 - RUSTIN: Unveiling Untold Stories, Reclaiming Hidden History

In Episode 47 we talk about the biopic RUSTIN with Robert Raben, founder of the March On Washington Film Festival and The Raben Group, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm in Washington, DC. Featuring Academy Award™ nominated actor Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin, the film RUSTIN shines a long overdue spotlight on the extraordinary man who, alongside giants like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Ella Baker, dared to imagine a different world, and inspired a movement for freedom.

Ep. 8 - JULIE DASH: Women of the Movement and Other Untold Stories

Filmmaker and award-winning director, Julie Dash directed two episodes in the recent ABC limited series WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT about Mamie Till Mobley’s attempts to get justice for the brutal murder of her 14-year old son Emmett Till in the Jim Crow South of 1955.

We will talk with Julie Dash about her film and television work in historical drama, including WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT; the influence of Black women writers and cultural workers in her creative work; and the impact of bringing untold stories from history to the screen, particularly how we believe and remember history.

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