How Africa
It was on this day in 1955 when a straightforward demonstration of resistance raised a sewer in Montgomery, Alabama, into a urgent image in America’s social liberties development.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks would not move to the back of a city transport. Little did the 42-year-old realize that her demonstration would help end isolation laws in the South.
She was headed home from work that night and sat down in the front of the dark segment of a city transport in Montgomery.
The bus filled up, and the bus driver demanded she move so a white male passenger could have her seat.
But Parks refused to give up her seat, and police arrested her. Four days later, Parks was convicted of disorderly conduct.
The events triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system by blacks that was organized by a 26-year-old Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The boycott led to a Supreme Court ruling that desegregated public transportation in Montgomery. But it wasn’t until the 1964 Civil Rights Act that all public accommodations nationwide were desegregated.
Parks died at age 92 in October 2005.
