How Did Rosa Parks Contribute To The Civil Rights Movement

Throughout the history of human civilization, there have been countless times where the people of a nation needed to stand up for what is right to protect their freedoms, whether it be through war or peace. Millions of people have protested unjust laws, gone to war against tyrannical governments, and fought for the freedom of themselves and others. And in the modern day, as news spreads globally faster than ever before, people are always hearing about injustices, whether they be oppression of free speech in China, oppression of immigrants in America, or oppression of homosexuality in the Middle East. One method that people have devised to help stem the tide of injustices and oppression is to engage in civil disobedience, which is an activity where …show more content…
Rosa Parks is synonymous with the civil rights movement, because her symbolic act of civil disobedience ended a long-running practice of discrimination in the city of Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery was in the heart of the race tensions of the South during the 60s, and so it was a main focus point in the fight for civil rights. Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery when she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. Previously, laws were enacted, officially segregating the bus system of Montgomery. African Americans were forced by law to sit in the back of the bus, and if the bus was overpopulated, they were required to give up their seat to any white passenger who demanded they do so. Rosa Parks purposefully broke this law, and was arrested for it. In response, Martin Luther King Jr. organized a mass protest against the Montgomery bus system by calling for a boycott. People who had previously rode the bus before suddenly refused to use them. Facing a loss of money, and increasing national attention, the city ended its discriminatory practice, giving the civil rights movement another victory, and proving the usefulness of civil