Rosa Parks. Biography In Context - Topic (Log-in and Password details on Library Website) Rosa Parks Biography - Rosa Parks Bus Chronology. Rosa Parks Bus - The Story Behind the Bus. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman who worked as a seamstress, boarded this Montgomery City bus to go home from work. On this bus on that day, Rosa Parks initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality. She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a white man entered the bus, the driver (following the standard practice of segregation) insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit there.
Mrs. Parks, who was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat. Her action was spontaneous and not pre-meditated, although her previous civil rights involvement and strong sense of justice were obvious influences. She was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation, known as “Jim Crow laws.” “I'd see the bus pass every day,” she said. Bus systems.