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In December 1955, 
Rosa Parks' refusal 
to give up her seat 
on a bus to a white 
man in Montgomery, 
Alabama, led to a 
boycott of buses. 
For over a year the 
city's 50,000 black 
people travelled by 
other means, mostly 
on foot. It was the
spark that lit the
flame of the civil
rights movement
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Rosa Parks
was convicted of 
violating Montgo-
mery's segregation
laws; and those
involved in the
bus boycott were
charged with con-
spiring to prevent
the bus company
from carrying on
its business. In 
February 1956, 
however, a suit
was filed in the
federal district
court asking 
for Montgomery's 
segregation laws
to be declared 
unconstitutional
#
Although in April 
1956 Texas banned 
racial segregation
on public transport 
within the state, 
officials in other 
southern states 
vowed to do every-
thing legally 
possible to keep 
the segregation
laws in place
#
The Montgomery 
bus boycott was 
successful, and 
began the move 
towards ensuring 
desegregation in 
other areas, among
them education. In
1954 the Supreme 
Court ruled that 
segregated schools 
were unconstitu-
tional, but the
southern states
had failed to
comply with
the judgement
#
In 1957, President 
Eisenhower sent 
paratroopers to
Little Rock High
School, Arkansas,
to enforce deseg-
regation. "Mob 
rule cannot be 
allowed to over-
ride the decisions
of our courts", he
said. One soldier
was assigned to
each student to
ensure their safety
#
Years after the 
event, Rosa Parks 
described her
arrest. "The police-
men approached me
and said, 'Why don't 
you stand up?'
I said 'I don't think
I should have to
stand up. Why do you
push us around?' He
said: 'I do not know,
but the law is the
law and you are
under arrest'."
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