The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : She Sat Down for What She Believed

When, on Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American, refused to move to the back of the bus as required by law for blacks, she sparked a 381-day bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., that led to a 1956 Supreme Court decision banning segregation on public transportation.

'Woman fingerprinted. Mrs. Rosa Parks, Negro seamstress, whose refusal to move to the back of a bus touched off the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.,' 1955

[Rev. Martin Luther King, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right, speaking at a rally in Crawfordville, Ga.], 1965

Parks never planned her protest, but it was the type of nonviolent act that civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference advocated.

More about Parks and the civil rights movement can be found in the "Today in History" Dec 1 entry. By going to the Today in History Archive page and selecting Dec. 1 you can read the Parks story. What happened on any other day in history is also available at Today in History.

The Library’s Web site is an excellent place to study the civil rights movement. In American Memory there are the following collections: "African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907"; "The African American Experience in Ohio: Selections from the Ohio Historical Society"; "From Slavery to Freedom: The African American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909"; "African American Sheet Music, 1850-1920: Selected from the Collections of Brown University"; "African American Odyssey"; and "By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s."

American Memory is a Web site of more than 8.5 million items from the unparalleled collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions. It is the largest source of high-quality information relating to American history on the Web. In more than 120 thematic presentations you can explore the nation’s past and see many of the documents, maps, photographs, films and other items that are housed in the national library.

A. New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, "Woman fingerprinted. Mrs. Rosa Parks, Negro seamstress, whose refusal to move to the back of a bus touched off the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.," 1955. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction information: Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-109643 (b&w film copy neg.); Call No.: NYWTS - BIOG--Parks, Rosa--Segragation Case <item> [P&P]

B. New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, [Rev. Martin Luther King, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right, speaking at a rally in Crawfordville, Ga.], 1965. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction information: Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-122992 (b&w film copy neg.); Call No.: NYWTS - BIOG--King, Martin L. Rev.--Religion <item> [P&P]