On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama.
Her arrest launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted more than a year and helped end segregated seating on city buses. She had already worked for years as secretary of the local NAACP chapter.
Key Facts
- Lived: 1913 to 2005
- Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996
- Received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999
- First woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda
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