The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was established in 1955 with the purpose of coordinating the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama. The boycott was initiated in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. The MIA, led by figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sought to challenge and dismantle the systemic racism and segregation enforced by Jim Crow laws through nonviolent protests. The boycott lasted for over a year, ultimately leading to a Supreme Court ruling that desegregated the city's buses.