Plaque Text for this Alabama landmark:
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was arrested on this site for refusing the order of city bus driver J.F. Blake to vacate her seat under the segregation laws of the Jim Crow era. She was taken to police headquarters at City Hall for booking, then to the municipal jail on Ripley Street. Civil rights leader E.D. Nixon, accompanied by attorney Clifford Durr, soon arrived to post her bail. Parks’s arrest galvanized Black leaders to organize a boycott of the bus system for December 5, the date she was to appear in Municipal Court. Her conviction and the success of the one-day bus protest inspired the creation of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to continue what came to be known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The 382-day boycott was the first sustained mass demonstration against segregation in the U.S. and launched the 20th-century civil rights movement. It also thrust Martin Luther King, Jr., the elected leader of the MIA, into national prominence. The boycott ended after a lawsuit filed by Mrs. Parks’s attorney, Fred D. Gray, ultimately led the federal courts to declare segregated bus seating unconstitutional. Mrs. Parks went on to become a national heroine, but in the aftermath of the boycott she and her husband were denied employment in Montgomery. They moved to Detroit, where she lived out her life. She died October 24, 2005, universally honored for her courage and activism.
More about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott:
That pretty well sums it up!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Pay the entrance fee to help maintain trails, signs, structures, and other visitor services!
- Become a member of the Alabama Historical Association!
- Donate to the Rosa Parks Museum!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
252 Montgomery Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
Read the plaque whenever you like, but the museum is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM, Saturdays until 3:00 PM!
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