On Dec 1, 1955, after a long day as a seamstress
 in Montgomery, Alabama, 42 year old Rosa
 Parks boarded the bus home.  The bus was full,
 and Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
  Most people left the bus when the driver called
 the police, but she sat firmly and calmly.  As she
 said, “I wasn’t physically tired.  The only tired I
 was, was tired of giving in.”
The bus system rules in Montgomery in 1955
were a humiliation repeated daily.  Black people,
 who comprised 75% of the ridership,
had to sit at the back of the bus, give up their
seats to any white rider, and board and exit
through the back door.

           

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Rosa Parks mug shot.  She was arrested
for disorderly conduct, and fined $14 for
violating the city ordinance.  Word spread,
and blacks boycotted the bus line for 381
days.  The bus line lost huge revenue.
With the help of local reverend,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
the Civil Rights movement was born.
In 1956, the US Supreme Court ruled that bus
 segregation was unconstitutional.  The next day,
 the bus boycott ended, with a victorious ride
 including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. riding in
 the front of the bus.  Rosa Parks,  icon of the
 Civil Rights movement, suffered hardships, and
 was unable to find work.  She lived out her days in Detroit.
Travel guides, circa 1955, listed hotels and
restaurants where blacks were welcomed – where
they could “vacation without humiliation”.
Segregated drinking fountains were a mystery
from a child’s point of view.  Many snuck a
drink, convinced that the “other” water would
be actually white or colored, and taste different.