Timeline Monday 5 December 1955

Events on Monday 5 December 1955 2

• 1955 AFL and CIO merge Rival labor federations unite to form the AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO, ending a two-decade rivalry between the two labor federations. George Meany became the combined organization's first president. The merger created the largest labor federation in United States history.
• 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott begins African Americans boycott segregated buses after Rosa Parks's arrest On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Local Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., organized a boycott of the city's buses that began four days later and lasted over a year. The boycott became a landmark of the American civil rights movement.