In 1955 Rosa Parks made history by refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. The bus incident led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, led by the young pastor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The association called for a boycott of the Montgomery city-owned bus company which lasted 382 days and brought Mrs. Parks and Dr. King, and their cause, to the attention of the world. A Supreme Court Decision struck down the Montgomery ordinance under which Mrs. Parks had been fined, and outlawed racial segregation on public transportation. Rosa�s refusal to move further back on the bus in order to accommodate white riders helped start not only the Montgomery bus boycott, but the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. She has since been a strong advocate for human rights issues. Upon her death in 2005, she was the first civilian to lie in state in the Rotunda of the Capital Building in Washington, D.C. �My only concern was to get home after a hard day's work.� (Comment upon being asked why she refused to give up her seat) "I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is anything such as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism.� - Rosa Parks.
Atrticle by Alexander S
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