Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1955, Rosa Parks made civil rights history in the US when she refused to give up her seat on the bus.

Segregation laws in Montgomery, Alabama, meant that when a bus was full, black passengers had to stand and give up their seat to white passengers.

Her subsequent arrest sparked a boycott of the city's buses by the African American population.

Led by Dr Martin Luther King, the protest became one of the most significant campaigns of the civil rights movement - and ultimately led to victory in the courts.

In November 1956, the US Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.

Vicky Farncombe tells the story using BBC archive interviews. This episode was first broadcast in 2024. It contains outdated language.

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(Photo: Rosa Parks. Credit: Getty Images)