Henry Ford Musuem
Come and step on board the Rosa Parks Bus on display in the exhibit, “With Liberty and Justice for all”. Parks’ courage that day in 1955 is still remembered to this day. In the south during the 1950’s, it was a rule that all African-American riders move to the back of the city bus and give up their seat if a white rider needed one. A white rider needed a seat on that lasting December 1st day, but Mrs. Parks refused to be moved. The police were called and she was arrested. Because of her arrest, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other African-American community leaders decided to call for a protest of the Montgomery bus company. The African-American community and especially Dr. King were harassed and terrorized for the boycott. The boycott was finally ended on November 13, 1956, by the United States Supreme court declaring that Alabama’s state and local laws were illegal. Federal injunction papers were served on the city of Montgomery and the bus company forcing them to obey the ruling. On December 21, 1956, the following day after the injunction, Dr. King rode in the front seat of a Montgomery public bus.
