Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. Her actions Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". Inside this bus on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a soft-spoken African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man, breaking existing segregation laws. The flawless character and quiet strength she exhibited successfully ignited action in others. Born in February 1913, Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in 1955 led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her bravery Rosa Parks was an American civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on a public bus precipitated the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which became the spark that ignited the civil rights movement in the United States. She is known as the “mother of the civil rights movement.” In 1955, Parks rejected a bus driver's order to leave a row of four seats in the "colored" section once the white section had filled up and move to the back of the bus. Her defiance sparked a successful boycott of buses in Montgomery a few days later. Residents refused to board the city's buses. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of going to the back of the bus, which was designated for African Americans, she sat in the front. When the bus started to fill up with white passengers, the bus driver asked Parks to move. She refused. On December 1, 1955, Parks famously refused to move to the back of a Montgomery bus, igniting the 13-month Montgomery Bus Boycott that ultimately led to the Supreme Court ruling declaring 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. Black people had to board the bus through the front door to pay the driver but then had to get off again and walk to the rear of the vehicle before getting back on. Rosa Parks, left, and Martin The back of a bus was visible in the meme, as was an advertisement reading “Honoring Rosa Parks”; Parks was a well-known figure in the American civil rights movement for her refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. The text at the top of the meme read: Rosa Parks (center, in dark coat and hat) rides a bus at the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Alabama, Dec. 26, 1956. Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images. 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 On 1 December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake’s order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger. This incident is said to be 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 Today marks the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ decision to sit down for her rights on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, putting the effort to end segregation on a fast track. Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, after she refused to give up her seat on a crowded bus to a white passenger. Rosa Parks wasn't the first black person to refuse to move to the back of the bus—nine months before, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin had done the same thing, and there were many others—but she Support the author by purchasing the book here: 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama and a young boy and his mother watch Rosa Parks change In March 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks defied segregation laws by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin did exactly Introduction. On December 1, 1955, a tired Rosa Parks left work as a department store tailor’s assistant and planned to ride home on a city bus. Rosa Parks left Montgomery due to death threats and employment blacklisting. [54] According to Charles Silberman, "by 1963, most Negroes in Montgomery had returned to the old custom of riding in the back of the bus." [55]
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |