On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, a black woman refused to surrender her seat to a white man. Arrested for violating the city's segregation laws, a mass boycott of the Montgomery bus system ensued, later followed by the nations' civil rights movement. All of this eventually took place because one woman decided to stand up for what she believed in. That woman was Rosa Parks.

  Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her father, James, was a carpenter, and her mother, Leona, was a teacher. She enrolled in the Montgomery School for Girls at the age of 11. The school was privately run by a woman from the North, and the institutions primary philosophy focused on self-worth.

  She married Ray Parks, a barber, in 1932. Her husband was active in several civil rights causes, and after attending Alabama State College, Rosa worked for the Montgomery Voters League, the NAACP Youth Council, and other civic and religious organizations. She worked as a seamstress and a housekeeper in order to support herself.

  After the December 1 incident, conditions initially worsened for African-Americans in Montgomery. However, a 382 day boycott eventually led to the desegregation of the city's buses. "I don't recall that I felt anything great about it," Ms. Parks remembered in an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser. "It didn't feel like a victory, actually. There still had to be a great deal to do."

  With that frame of mind, Rosa Parks continued her work for the NAACP and other civil rights organizations, In 1986, she received an Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her achievements in this area.

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