Editing Mary Louise Smith (activist) (section)

==''Browder v. Gayle''==
{{main|Browder v. Gayle}}
On February 1, 1956, Gray and other attorneys filed a civil suit, ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'' in the [[United States District Court]], challenging state and local laws on bus segregation. Smith was one of five plaintiffs, including [[Aurelia Browder]], [[Claudette Colvin]], [[Susie McDonald]], and [[Jeanetta Reese]]. (Reese left the case that month because of intimidation.)<ref name="Patton">{{cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/info/mbbbios.htm|title=Montgomery Bus Boycott — Biographic Sketches|author=Dr. Gwen Patton|location=Trenholm State Technical College Archives|access-date=February 4, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/279205|title=Aurelia S. Browder et al. v. W. A. Gayle et al., No. 1147|series=Series: Civil Cases, 9/1938 - 11/26/1968 |date=September 1938 |publisher=National Archives|access-date=October 22, 2016}}</ref> The women, other than Reese, testified before a three-judge panel, and on June 13, 1956, the court ruled that the laws were unconstitutional, based on equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Appealed by the city and state, the case made its way to the [[United States Supreme Court]]. On November 13, 1956, it affirmed the lower court's ruling. On December 17, it declined an appeal by the city and state to reconsider, and on December 20 ordered the state to desegregate its buses. This ended the [[Montgomery bus boycott]] with success.