Rosa Parks

It may be difficult for you to understand why Rosa was asked to give up her seat and why she was arrested. At the time, there was a law that said that black Americans had to give up their seats for white people. It was one of many segregation laws that existed in the southern United States. These laws kept black people and white people separate.

Segregation was a part of life in the southern United States for a long time. Black people could not go the same schools as white people, eat in the same restaurants or drink from the same water fountains. If black people broke one of these laws, they could be arrested, beaten up or killed.

Rosa knew what could happen to her when she refused to give up her seat, but she was more tired of being treated unfairly than afraid. When Rosa was taken to jail, she was fingerprinted and locked in a cell. She still wasn't afraid.

When Rosa was released from jail, she learned that word of her arrest had spread. E.D. Nixon, a black minister and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, asked Rosa if she would fight the fine for breaking the segregation law. Rosa said, "Yes."

Nixon called together a meeting of Montgomery's black ministers. Among them was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nixon wanted the ministers to help him with a plan to boycott Montgomery's buses on the day Rosa appeared in court.

People passed out handbills that asked Montgomery's black residents not to ride the buses. Ministers let their congregations know about Rosa and the boycott. On December 5, 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began. The buses in Montgomery made their normal stops that day, but few people got on.

When Rosa went to court, she was found guilty of disobeying the segregation law. She did not pay the fine and her lawyers filed an appeal. That same night, ministers and people in the community gathered. They decided to continue the boycott.

For more than a year, most of Montgomery's black residents refused to ride the buses. They walked, rode horses or shared cars, but they did not ride buses. Rosa and many others, including Dr. King, were arrested for taking part in the boycott.

The bus companies lost a lot of money during the boycott. At last, the Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery's bus segregation law was wrong.

The black residents of Montgomery had won. That made some white people very unhappy. These people threatened to hurt Rosa and her family. In 1957, the Parks family left Montgomery and moved to Detroit, Michigan.

The threats didn't stop Rosa from fighting for what she believed. She made speeches and joined in marches to support black people's rights. She was elected to the board of directors of the NAACP.

After years of fighting, the segregation laws were finally done away with. Black people could register to vote, go anywhere and live anywhere. The Civil Rights Movement helped make it against the law to discriminate against people based on race, religion or nationality.

Rosa continued to work to help others. In 1987, she founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. The institute helps young people complete their education. She also took part in protests against Apartheid, the name for segregation in South Africa.

In 1988, Rosa took part in the presidential campaign to elect Jesse Jackson, a black leader. At the Democratic National Convention, Rosa stood with Jackson as he presented her to the crowd. They cheered for this brave woman who had not given up her bus seat years before.