Rosa Parks, born in 1913, was a courageous Black American civil rights activist whose defiant act of resistance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became a defining moment in the Civil Rights Movement. On December 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, as required by Jim Crow laws.
Inspired by the kidnap, torture and murder of a Black child in Mississippi a few month earlier Parks decided to take action. “I thought Emmett Till and I couldn’t go back,” she later said. Parks’ arrest and subsequent trial ignited widespread outrage and led to a coordinated boycott of the city's bus system by Black residents, lasting over a year. The boycott, organized by civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., challenged racial segregation on public transportation and served as a catalyst for the broader struggle for social justice.
Parks' courageous stand inspired countless others to join the fight for equality earning her the title "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement".
Learn more through the National Park Service
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/places-of-rosa-parks.htm
The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of Black American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.
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Rosa Parks