LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Rosa Parks: African Americans
built 203 days ago
Nearly half a century after making a decision to continue sitting on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus, Rosa Parks had developed into a legend. Though she was oft quoted as saying that she didn't set out that day in December 1955 to make history, she did. And in doing so, she ... changed it. "She sat down in order that we might stand up," Rev. Jesse Jackson said in an interview with the New York Times upon the news of her death in October of 2005. "Paradoxically, her imprisonment opened the doors for our long journey to freedom." Parks died on October 24, 2005; her legacy continues on and is felt every day by Americans of all backgrounds, races, and creeds.
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Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a Montgomery bus. In the 1940's, Rosa had joined the NAACP, an organization to help end discrimination against African-Americans. The public bus system in Montgomery, Alabama, was just one example of how African-Americans were discriminated against. African-Americans were only allowed to sit in the back of the bus or they could sit in the middle section as long as no white passengers were standing. Some bus drivers made African-American passengers board the front of the bus to pay, and then made them exit the bus to re-board through the back door. Sometimes the buses would leave before the passengers could re-board.
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Later Adult Years: After moving to Michigan in 1957, Rosa Parks continued the fight for equal rights and treatment for African Americans. On several occasions, Mrs. Parks returned to Montgomery to support Dr. King in demonstrations and civil rights marches.
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