Rosa Parks Refuses to Leave Her Bus Seat

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. For doing this, Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for breaking the laws of segregation. Rosa Parks' refusal to leave her seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Alabama in the 1950's was known for its segregation laws. In addition to separate drinking fountains, bathrooms, and schools for African-Americans and whites, there were separate rules regarding seating on city buses. African-Americans living in montgomery were used to dealing with the segregation rules, but the unfair policies on city buses were especially harsh. The first rows of seats were reserved for whites only; while African-Americans, who paid the same ten cent fare as the whites, were required to find seats in the back. If all the seats were taken but another white passenger boarded the bus, then a row of African-American passengers sitting in the middle of the bus would be required to give up their seats, even if it meant they would have to stand. It wasn't unusual for bus drivers to drive off before they could get on the bus. The African-American passengers had to deal with this treatment going to work and home from work everyday; even though they were the ones who made up the majority of bus passengers. It was time for a change. 

 

On the particular day that Rosa Parks refused to get out of her seat, she happened to sit down right behind the row reserved for whites. At the next stop when white passengers got on the bus and roughly ordered Parks to move, she simply refused. Only one white passenger needed a seat, but she "needed" to move because a white person living in the segregated South would not sit in the same row as an African American.

The driver ended up calling the police and Parks was arrested. She was released later that night. News of her arrest led to a 381 day boycott, now called the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It ended when the Supreme Court ruled that the bus segregation laws in Alabama were unconstitutional. 

Rosa Parks was the beginning of the future of equality for African-Americans and whites. In the words of Parks herself, "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."

Sources:

1) http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0bio-1

2) http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp

3) http://teacher.scholastic.com/rosa/