Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Seat on Bus

On the evening of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American, was arrested for disobeying an Alabama law requiring black passengers to relinquish seats to white passengers when the bus was full. Blacks also were required to sit at the back of the bus. Her arrest sparked a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system and led to a 1956 Supreme Court decision banning segregation on public transportation.

Rosa McCauley was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. In 1932, she married Raymond Parks and with his encouragement earned a high school diploma. The couple was active in the Montgomery Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). While working as a seamstress, Mrs. Parks served as chapter secretary and, for a time, as advisor to the NAACP Youth Council. Denied the right to vote on at least two occasions because of her race, Rosa Parks also worked with the Voters League in preparing blacks to register.

On 1 December 1955, after her day of work as a seamstress at a local department store, Parks boarded a city bus. When she refused to give up her seat to a white man, the bus driver called police, and Parks was arrested and fined.

RECOGNIZING 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROSA LOUISE PARKS' REFUSAL TO GIVE UP HER SEAT ON THE BUS AND THE SUBSEQUENT DESEGREGATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY -- (House of Representatives - September 14, 2005)

Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 208) recognizing the 50th anniversary of Rosa Louise Parks' refusal to give up her seat on the bus and the subsequent desegregation of American society.

The Clerk read as follows:

H. Con. Res. 208

Whereas most historians date the beginning of the modern-day Civil Rights Movement in the United States to December 1, 1955;

Whereas December 1, 1955, is the date of Rosa Louise Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man and her subsequent arrest;

Whereas Rosa Louise Parks was born on February 4, 1913, as Rosa Louise McCauley to James and Leona McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama;

Whereas Rosa Louise Parks was educated in Pine Level, Alabama, until the age of 11, when she enrolled in the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls and then went on to attend the Alabama State Teachers College's High School;

Whereas on December 18, 1932, Rosa Louise McCauley married Raymond Parks and the two settled in Montgomery, Alabama;

Whereas, together, Raymond and Rosa Parks worked in the Montgomery, Alabama, branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where Raymond served as an active member and Rosa served as a secretary and youth leader;

Whereas on December 1, 1955, Rosa Louise Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat in the ``colored'' section of the bus to a white man on the orders of the bus driver because the ``white'' section was full;

Whereas the arrest of Rosa Louise Parks led African Americans and others to boycott the Montgomery city bus line until the buses in Montgomery were desegregated;

Whereas the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott encouraged other courageous...