A civil and human rights activist, Rosa Parks has been called the “mother of the movement.” Her refusal to move from her seat in the “white area” of a Montgomery city bus led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956 and resulted in the Supreme Court’s decision that segregation was unconstitutional. Although Parks did not intend to ignite an entire movement, she did want to change the policies and laws that restricted the freedom and right of minorities, especially African-Americans. Her personality and beliefs enabled her to take a stand for what she believed was right when others who felt the same way she did were unsure of themselves and were unaware that their actions and protests could essentially change the world, or at least the United States. Parks’ courage to defy custom and the law in order to uphold her personal rights and dignity inspired African Americans everywhere.

Parks attended segregated schools while living with her parents in Tuskegee, Alabama. After she finished high school, she attended the all-black Alabama State College. After her marriage to Raymond Parks in 1932, she and her husband worked for the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Parks became the chapter’s secretary in the 1950’s. The NAACP worked to dismantle the barriers of racial segregation in education and public accommodations but made little progress in the 1940’s and ‘50’s. Parks also worked for the Montgomery Voters League, the NAACP you council, and other civic and religious organizations. Parks had a firm and quiet strength to change the things that she believed were unjust. Prior to her arrest, Parks had had other run-ins with bus drivers and had been evicted from buses. “I didn’t want to pay my fare and then go around the back door, because many times, even if you did that, you might not get on the bus at all. They’d probably shut the door, drive off, and leave you standing three,” Parks stated.

In 1955, Montgomery, Alabama had a municipal law that required black citizens to ride in the back of city buses. In the summer of 1955, Parks’ white friends paid her expenses for a two-week interracial seminar at Tennessee’s Highlander Folk School, a program designed to help people to train for civil rights activism. On December 1, 1955, Parks stated, “Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it. I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, and hot strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.” After Parks’ arrest, black leaders in the community saw the incident as an opportunity to stage protest against the city’s segregation laws.

The boycott of the Montgomery city bus lines began on December 5, 1955 and was an immediate success. According to receipts from the bus company, about 90 percent of the blacks that usually rode the buses, found other means of transportation. Later that evening, black leaders of the community met and formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (M.I.A.). Throughout the boycott, police harassed blacks riding in cars, bombs were set off at community leaders’ houses, and police arrested blacks on minor offences, such as speeding. In November of 1956, the US Supreme Court declared that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, and the boycott was brought to an end.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a significant event in the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and ‘60’s. It caught the attention of the entire nation and set the tone for the entire civil rights movement. Despite the tremendous gains over the past four years, Parks feels that “we still have a long way to go in improving the race relations in this country. I am still uncomfortable with the credit given to me for starting the bus boycott. I would like to people to know that I was not the only person involved. I was just one of many who fought for freedom,” Parks stated. Parks’ action on that December afternoon sparked one of the largest civil rights movements in our nation’s history. When she refused to leave her seat on the public bus, Parks was completely unaware to the results of her actions. Her strength to stand up for her beliefs and demand the equal treatment of African-Americans everywhere has given her the respect of people across the United States and the world, and the admiration that has led to her being referred to as a “peace hero.” Although Parks is uncomfortable with her association with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, she will always be remembered as one person who made a difference in the live of many people, black and white, for years to come.