Why Is Rosa Parks Important To The Civil Rights Movement?

Throughout the African American civil rights movement opportunities were sought to spark a chance at improving conditions in the south. Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the Montgomery, Alabama bus was the fire to that spark. Rosa, standing up for herself something anyone person in today’s world would do, was arrested and put in jail. While Rosa was in jail she caught the eye of many people in the Civil Rights Movement, including the leaders. The Civil Rights leaders protested her arrest and hired lawyers to aid her in her trial. Although she was found guilty and was fined fourteen dollars for the cost of the court case, which lasted on thirty minutes, she wasn’t done yet. Rosa Parks has affected the society we live in today in

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, one of the leaders of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, despite being reprimanded by the driver (Schulke 166). Montgomery, Alabama was known for its terrible treatment of blacks. The buses in particular had been a source of tension between the city and black citizens for many years (Schulke, 167). As a result of refusing to give up her seat, Rosa Parks was arrested. Rosa Parks' popularity among the black community, proved to be the spark that ignited the non-violent Civil Rights Movement (Norrell 2).

As a few white passengers boarded the bus and the white sections were already full so the driver shouted back at four black people including Rosa Parks “Move y'all, I want those two seats”. As this demand was made by the driver 3 of the bus riders obeyed to what was shouted back, however Rosa Parks remained in her seat and was determined not to move. She was arrested following the bus drivers order and fined ten dollars. This, however small incited a great wave of bus boycotts which in Montgomery black people chose not to ride the bus for a period of 381 days. This still to date is known as the moment in which the civil rights movement started to gain headway. It was the will of one woman who decided it was time for black people to take a stand and from this point on Martin Luther King was assigned to take this boycott on. Although he was assigned to take this on people also felt as he was young, fresh and people had not formulated enough of an opinion of him, there was little room for him to be hated yet so he posed as the right figure to lead this. After the many days of boycotting the case of this transport issue in Alabama went to the Supreme Court. Here it was decided that segregation was declared as unconstitutional so segregation by law was no

On Thursday evening December 1, 1955, Rosa boards a Montgomery City Bus to go home after a long day working as a seamstress. She walks back to the section for blacks, and takes a seat. The law stated that they could sit there if no White people were standing. Rosa parks never liked segregation rules and has been fighting against them for more than ten years in the NAACP, but until then had never broke any of the unjust rules. As the bus stops at more places, more white people enter the bus, all the seats in the “White Only” section was filled and the bus driver orders Rosa’s row to move to the back of the bus, they all moved, accept Rosa. She was arrested and fined for violating a city regulation. This act of defiance began a movement that ended legal Segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom devoted people everywhere.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to a white person. Rosa Parks is quoted as saying, "I thought about Emmett Till, and I could not go back. My legs and feet were not hurting, that is a stereotype. I paid the same fare as others, and I felt violated." Her act of civil disobedience led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the emergence of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as a powerful leader in the fight for civil rights, all powerful symbols of the civil rights movement. (Crowe, n.d.)

In December of 1955, Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus and refused to give up her seat to a white male. She was later arrested and put in jail. This caused the black people of Montgomery to initiate a boycott, the refusal to use the services of the bus company. They did this in order to gain

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat at the ‘colored section’ inside the bus to a white passenger, and this went against the customs at the time. As a result of the arrest, Montgomery black community initiated a bus boycott that lasted for more than a year.

Because of the outcome of the Brown case a lot of African Americans took matter into their own hands and wanted to end forms of racial segregation. December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks, a black seamstress and a NAACP activist denied giving up her seat to a white man. This caused mayhem and sparked a bus boycott due to the fact that Rosa Parks got arrested for not wanting to get up. This was a tactic that the civil rights movement leaders used to stop racial discrimination between blacks and whites in the United States. After more than a year of conflict, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the complete desegregation of Montgomery buses. (Hewitt and Lawson

“In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. This act of civil disobedience was an important catalyst in the growth of the Civil Rights movement; activists built the Montgomery Bus Boycott around it, which lasted more than a year and desegregated the buses. Civil rights protests and actions, together with legal challenges, resulted in a series of legislative and court decisions which contributed to undermining the Jim Crow

It was December 1, 1955 when Rosa Parks boarded the bus and sat in the section labeled "whites only". She was ordered to get up so a white man could sit down, but she refused. She was arrested for not getting up. Because of her arrest, a 381 day protest led by Martin Luther King was started. "... a court case that took Alabama's discriminatory laws all the way to the U.S Supreme Court," as Prerana Korpe states in Rosa Parks and Civil Disobedience. This shows how serious Rosa Parks arrest was because her case went all the way to the U.S Supreme Court. Boycotting ended as soon as the bus segregation was declared unconstitutional. Rosa Parks said, "I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prospeirty for all people." This shows how Rosa Parks wanted people to view her. The peaceful 381 day protest led by Matin Luther King had positively impacted a free society because the bus segregation ended

Rosa Parks was known for her unplanned act of defiance that lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 (Dudley 258). The attributes that she contributed to Civil Rights was her commitment to the cause, her positive attitude, and her ability to inspire others. Rosa Parks had got onto a public bus after a long day of work, and her feet were hurting, so she decided to sit in the white section. The white people complained and the bus driver told her if she did not get up, then she would be arrested. Nevertheless, with Rosa Park’s refusal to get up, it led to her arrest. Due to her commitment to the cause she stood up for racial equality, and though all of the turmoil she encountered she kept a positive attitude. Her ability to inspire others was remarkable, therefore it led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott was due to the fact that African Americans were exasperated due to the fact that they were not being treated equally. This then led to all African Americans walking to and from wherever they were

The bus was separated into a black and white section, the white section was located in the front. Rosa was sitting on the bus in the front of the black section when a white man came aboard. This man went to go sit down in the white section of the bus, but the section was full. The man then told the driver, the driver in a brief sweep ordered Rosa to move to the back of the bus. When Rosa refused, she defied a southern custom, moreover, she was then arrested. After her arrest the black community started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The community stopped riding the public bus system until they were treated equally and with respect. To sum up the boycott lasted for more than a year, it ended on December 20,1956. “Martin Luther King Jr. was instrumental in leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott”(Burner and Haney). Dr. King knew that this was something that needed to be handled. After the bus boycott Rosa Parks was known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” (Hare). Rosa never expected to become famous after this. All she wanted to do was get home because she was tired from work. “I didn’t get on the bus with the intention of being arrested,” she said later. “I got on the bus with the intention of going home”(Hare). Yet after everything Rosa knew when she refused to move, that she had just started her very own

The 1950s and early 1960s brought several major events in the fight for the civil rights of African-Americans. In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted for over a year and brought Martin Luther King, Jr. to the front of the movement. King led a number of non-violent protests including the Birmingham Campaign and the March on

" This was the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which affected U.S. history, and particularly rights for negros. Upon the arrival of Rosa Parks trial nearly the entire black population did not ride the busses by any means. Over 66% of the riders on the busses were African-Americans, in this way a large

On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama Rosa Parks denied the order of the bus driver James F. Blake to give up her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger after the only whites section was completely occupied! That’s nuts right! Well she refused to obey these orders so she was arrested that day and was released later that evening when her friend Clifford Durr bailed her out. Another story is also known about is the boycott. On a Sunday, December 4th, 1955 she attended a church rally at night and the people attending agreed unanimously to continue the boycott until they were treated with the level of courtesy that they expected until black drivers were hired and until seating in the middle of the bus was handled on a first come basis.