The Montgomery Bus Boycott – Started After Rosa Louise McCauley Parks Refused To Give Up Her Seat On A Bus

Rosa Parks being booked into the Montgomery jail on December 1, 1955.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks had finished her shift as a seamstress and was arrested for her refusal to give up her bus seat to a caucasian rider on her way home.

Rosa Parks police station photograph in December 1, 1955.

Upon hearing of the arrest, Martin Luther King, Junior worked with the Southern Christian Conference to coordinate a massive boycott of the segregated bus system. On December 5, Rosa Parks was found guilty of violating segregation laws, given a suspended sentence and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs.

Martin Luther King, Junior with supporters celebrating the end of bus desegregation in 1956.

On November 13, 1956, the bus segregation case moved up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the District court ruling that segregation of buses was unconstitutional, thus ending the eleven months long Montgomery Bus Boycott.