Rosa Parks became one of the major symbols of the civil rights movement after she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger in 1955. For 381 days, African-Americans boycotted public transportation to protest Parks' arrest and, in turn, segregation laws. The boycott led to a Supreme Court ruling desegregating public transportation in Montgomery. In this photo, Parks rides the bus a day after the Supreme Court ruling in 1956.
The 42-year-old seamstress and secretary of her local NAACP chapter defied Jim Crow laws that called for the separation of the races by refusing to move to the back of a bus to allow a white man to have her seat.
That defiant act in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 was a pivotal point in the civil rights movement and transformed Parks into a symbol of the struggle. Social media marked the day and remembered her, with some taking note of the current plight of African-Americans.
Rosa Parks would have been 106 today — watch Obama’s beautiful tribute to the civil rights trailblazer back in 2013 pic.twitter.com/e1JBxohpoS
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 4, 2019
Parks died in 2005 at the age of 92. In a 1995 interview, she said she wasn't angry about being asked to leave her seat, just resolute.
"I don't remember feeling that anger, but I did feel determined to take this as an opportunity to let it be known that I did not want to be treated in that manner and that people have endured it far too long," she said.