Rosa Parks
1913 - 2005
Rosa Parks challenged segregation on Montgomery city busses, an action which led to the year-long Montgomery bus boycott. Before the boycott, she was actively involved in the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and served as its secretary. On December 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and was arrested. The Women's Political Council of Montgomery organized the first day of boycotts, which were continued for the next year. The NAACP used Parks's arrest to challenge segregation before the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of desegregation. After the protest, Parks moved to Detroit where she remained active in the civil rights movement and managed the office of U.S. Congressman John Conyers for two decades.
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Alabama Department of Archives and History