Uh the bus protest was them riding the bus and continuing to ride the bus. You missed literally the entire events and purpose of one of the most well documented protest in history.

I think you're missing part of the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_bus_boycott

> The story of the Civil Rights protests would have been very different had African Americans continued to ride the bus.

I don't know what you're trying to say here. Most of the most famous actions during the civil rights movement were African Americans doing things that were only illegal because of racist laws supported by cultural white supremacy (lunch-counter sit-ins; pubic buses; sometimes merely existing in certain areas at certain times). Metaphorically, they did "continue to ride the bus", if that means they continued to engage in the same actions involved in the protests, because those actions were eventually made legal. For those interested in learning more about the movement, I recommend "The Children" by David Halberstam. He makes clear just how dangerous being a civil rights protestor was.

As another comment points out, I was referring to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I live in Alabama and that is a lesson we teach our kids (there’s a wonderful book introducing these very harsh themes at a level even young kids can understand: “I Am Rosa Parks”).

Those involved were willing to take incredible personal risks in forms of protest until their voices were represented in politics.

Here’s a pretty solid write up. The emergence of MLK on the national scene even had its origin in this boycott. There isn’t a figurative interpretation here: the black community in Montgomery refused to ride the bus until it was desegregated. They kept this up for over a year until the Supreme Court forced the city to integrate its busing.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-...