ng blacks and whites, Rosa stood up for what she believed in. She walked up the stairs of a building rather than riding in an elevator marked “blacks only.” She would go home thirsty instead of drinking from the “colored only” water fountain. (Guest Rosa Parks 2) The most historical, significant action by Rosa Parks occurred on Thursday, December 1, 1955. She got on a bus to go home after a long day of work. Happy that there was actually a seat open, Rosa sat down and relaxed in a row where other blacks were seated. A few stops later, a white man came onto the bus. The bus was full so the driver, James Blake, ordered the black people in Rosa’s row to move so the white man would have a seat. No one in the row stood up so once again the bus driver ordered them to move. After the second order everyone in Rosa’s row got up to move except for Rosa. She was sick and tired of the discrimination against blacks, and she figured that if she paid the exact same fare as the white man, then she had as much right as him to sit there. Blake began to shout at Rosa and when she continued her refusal to move he went and got two policemen who came onto the bus and arrested her. (Women’s History Encyclopedia 2) When Rosa arrived at the police station she called her mother who then called the NAACP. Rosa was released from jail and with the help of the NAACP, she decided to fight the fine. With that the NAACP started a boycott against the buses. (Bennett 378)The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was headed by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., began on December 5, 1955 and lasted for thirteen months. This seriously hurt the bus business, and after the three hundred and eighty two days that the boycott lasted, the Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery’s segregation laws were unconstitutional. They also ruled that it was illegal to treat people differently because of the color of their skin. The acti...
