Rosa Parks: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement — Passage and Quiz

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was riding a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She had finished work as a seamstress and was heading home. In those days, buses in Montgomery had unfair rules. Black passengers had to sit in the back of the bus, and if the front section for white passengers became full, Black passengers had to give up their seats.

When the bus became crowded, the driver ordered Rosa and three other Black passengers to give up their seats. The other three people moved, but Rosa Parks remained seated. She was tired after a long day of work, but she was also tired of being treated unfairly. When Rosa refused to move, the bus driver called the police. Rosa was arrested for breaking the segregation laws.

Rosa's arrest was not an accident. She had thought about this moment before. Rosa was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She knew that her action might help challenge the unfair laws.

News of Rosa's arrest spread quickly. A young minister named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other community leaders organized a bus boycott. This meant that Black people in Montgomery would not ride the buses until the unfair rules changed. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for 381 days—more than a year!

During the boycott, thousands of people walked to work, formed carpools, or found other ways to travel. It was difficult, but they were determined. Finally, on December 20, 1956, the United States Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was against the law.

Rosa Parks became known as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement." Her simple act of courage helped spark a movement that led to important changes in American laws. The Civil Rights Movement worked to end segregation and discrimination against Black Americans.

After the boycott, Rosa and her husband moved to Detroit, Michigan. She continued to work for civil rights. In 1999, Rosa received the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest honors in the United States.

Rosa Parks showed that one person can make a big difference. She once said, "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." Rosa Parks died in 2005 at the age of 92, but her brave action on that bus is still remembered as an important moment in American history.