Rosa Parks
On December 1, 1955 after a hard day at work, Rosa was riding the bus home when the driver asked her and three black men to move to make more room in the white section. The three men moved, but Rosa refused. A police officer came, arrested her and took her to jail. She was bailed out that evening. She didn't plan the incident, but when it happened, she decided to stand up for her rights. She was tired of being humiliated and treated unfairly. She was not the first black person to refuse to move on a bus, but when the event happened to her, civil rights leaders knew they had found someone to champion their cause. A group was formed and 35,000 handbills were distributed calling for a boycott of the buses. This meant the blacks would refuse to ride the buses unless they were desegregated and they could sit anywhere in the bus. For more than a year, 381 days, they boycotted the buses. They carpooled, rode in cabs, and walked to work. On November 13, 1956 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unlawful, and the city of Montgomery, AL had no right to impose it on people riding their buses. The next month the signs on the bus seats designating white and colored sections were removed. The boycott was officially over.
<"Rosa Parks Biography -- Academy of Achievement." Academy of Achievement Main Menu. American Academy of Achievement, 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0bio-1.>
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