Seventy years ago, on Dec. 1, 1955, a quiet but determined seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks’ arrest sparked a movement that would transform America — and the world.
Four days later, on Dec. 5, the Montgomery Bus Boycott started, marking the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement and bringing a 26-year-old pastor, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to national and global attention. What happened during those 381 days remains one of the most remarkable acts of moral courage in American history.
It is important to remember that Parks was not the first person in Montgomery to refuse to give up her seat. Months earlier, a brave 15-year-old single mother, Claudette Colvin, had done the same thing to protest the segregated bus system. However, local leaders believed Colvin would not be the “ideal face” for the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)…