December 1,1955 was the day an unknown department store workers arrest started a movement that ended legal segregation in America. Even though she worked in a department store, Rosa Parks was best known for her work as a civil rights activist. Not only did she rebel against the laws of segregation, she also created a movement that abolished racism across the country. “Most people know Ms. Parks for being a woman whose feet were sore, who simply decided one day to sit in a seat she was not entitled to and defy Jim Crow segregation in Montgomery, Alabama. But her life was so much richer and more important than that. She had been trained as a political activist, and was part of a community of women activists who were organizing to take on segregated buses for the purposes of ending that practice. The centennial gives us all a chance to reflect on what democracy requires of us to both expand …show more content…
She was bailed out of jail by E.D. Nixon and Clifford Durr. Her arrest led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. On the day of Rosa Park’s court hearing, the Montgomery Improvement Association began a boycott of the public buses by blacks in Montgomery which lasted 381 days.
In 1932, Rosa Parks married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery. After being unable to find work after her arrest they moved to Detroit, Michigan. Rosa Parks ended up working as a secretary and receptionist in U.S. Representative John Conyers congressional office. “Everybody wanted to explain Rosa Parks and wanted to teach Rosa Parks, but Rosa Parks wasn't very interested in that, ... She wanted them to understand the government and to understand their rights and the Constitution that people are still trying to perfect today.” (Conyers) Parks also ended up serving on the board of Planned Parenthood of