Laws stated that all African Americans should have a seat on the back of the bus while whites sat up front. If the front became crowded, African Americans had to give up their seats to make room. Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for the refused relinquish of her seat. It was …show more content…
Local ministers formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), where Martin Luther King was elected president. The MIA asked for multiple reforms, beginning with the “first-come, first-served” seating, and then with the proposal of allowing African American bus drivers for routes primarily for African Americans themselves. The Montgomery officials and bus companies refused to meet the demands. After the boycott continued for a year, the United States Supreme Court considered bus segregation unconstitutional on November 13, 1956. The boycott ended the following day.
Rosa Parks had received great recognition for her bravery and the successful ignite of the campaign, earning the title as being the “mother of the civil rights movement.” In 1957, Parks moved with her husband and mother to Detroit, where she was a member of the staff of Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Jr. She also remained active in the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which established the Freedom Award in her honor. Rosa Parks died on October 24,