At the front of a bus, previously reserved for white riders, is Rosa Parks, face turned to the window to her left, seemingly lost in thought as she rides through Montgomery, Ala. In the seat behind her is a young white man looking to his right, his face hard, almost expressionless. At the front of a bus, where black people had never ridden before, is Rosa Parks, face turned to the window to her left, seemingly lost in thought as she rides through Montgomery, Ala. Most of us know Rosa Parks as the African American woman who quietly, but firmly, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. That small act of resistance sparked the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott which, in turn, kickstarted national efforts to end racial segregation in the U.S. Y ou probably think you know the story of Rosa Parks, the seamstress who refused to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Ala., 60 years ago—on Dec. 1, 1955—and thus galvanized the bus There’s a basic story that schoolchildren get told about Rosa Parks: She was an everyday woman who worked hard at her job and was tired at the end of the day. She sat down on that bus, and Beginning on December 1, 1955, black citizens staged a year-long, city-wide bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Rosa Parks is shown here during a symbolic ride in the formerly whites-only section of a city bus in Montgomery on December 21, 1956, the day the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation of the city's public transit vehicles. Rosa Parks seated in the front of a public bus, likely a staged photograph representing the end of segregated buses and her role in the Montgomery bus boycott fromto1956. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2015645721/>. For 382 days, almost the entire African American population of Montgomery, Alabama, including leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, refused to ride on segregated buses. The protests For 382 days, almost the entire African American population of Montgomery, Alabama, including leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, refused to ride on segregated buses. Rosa Parks is shown here during a symbolic ride in the formerly whites-only section of a city bus in Montgomery on December 21, 1956, the day the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation of the city's public transit vehicles. This is one of those things that gets mixed up a bit. Rosa Parks didn’t set out that day to protest the segregated bussing. She was an activist, and she was also selected as the poster child for that particular cause over other possible candidates because civil rights activists believed she presented a better picture to the public than, for example, a young unwed pregnant woman in a similar “The Rosa Parks story was a lie. My grandmother, and three other women were the real Rosa Parks. They really were tired one day, after a godawful amount of work, and just couldn’t get up to move to stand in the back of the bus. They were all prosecuted for defying the rule, and they filed a lawsuit about it. Man sitting behind Rosa Parks in famous bus photo is identified as United Press International reporter covering event, not some angry Alabama segregationist as has long been supposed; Catherine When that section filled, the next row back was supposed to become part of the white section and any non-white person was supposed to move back. So one white man boards and three people move to the back. Rosa Parks did not. It could have been brushed over. But the charges filed caused the boycott. The bus system was going to start something anyway. 1 photograph : print ; sheet 24 x 21 cm. Photo, Print, Drawing [Rosa Parks seated in the front of a public bus, likely a staged photograph representing the end of segregated buses and her role in the Montgomery bus boycott from 1955 to1956] On December 1, 1955, during a typical evening rush hour in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42-year-old woman took a seat on the bus on her way home from the Montgomery Fair department store where she worked as a seamstress. Before she reached her destination, she quietly set off a social revolution when the bus driver instructed her to move back, and she refused. Rosa Parks, an African American, was Rosa Parks launched the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. The boycott proved to be one of the pivotal moments of the emerging civil rights movement. For 13 months, starting in December 1955, the black citizens of Montgomery protested nonviolently with the goal of desegregating the city’s public buses. The actual bus on which Rosa Parks sat was made available for the public to board and sit in the seat that Rosa Parks refused to give up. [ 153 ] On February 4, 2,000 birthday wishes gathered from people throughout the United States were transformed into 200 graphics messages at a celebration held on her 100th Birthday at the Davis Theater for Sixty years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala. Her courageous act is now American legend. She is a staple of elementary school curricula and was the second
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