

If the bus became too full, the passengers in the back half of the bus, the blacks, could be ordered to give up their seats to accommodate white passengers.

Under Montgomery city code, bus drivers were to segregate black and white passengers on the bus, and they were given strict authority to enforce the code. Nixon, president of the NAACP through 1957. She served as a youth leader for the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, and she worked as a secretary to E.D. Rosa became active in the civil rights movement along with her husband. Parks was a member of the NAACP, and he helped Rosa earn her high school diploma. At the age of 19, she married a barber named Raymond Parks. She did not return to school, opting instead to get a factory job in Montgomery to help support her family. She attended a secondary school as well, but had to leave when in the 11th grade to take care of her ailing mother and grandmother. Rosa attended segregated schools throughout her childhood, which meant a long daily walk to the African American school house she attended, while the white students in her community rode a bus to a large, new building. Both of her grandparents were former slaves, and while growing up on their farm, Rosa was strongly influenced by their advocating of equal rights. After her parent’s divorce, her mother moved Rosa and her siblings to Pine Level, Alabama, where Rosa’s maternal grandparents resided. Rosa Parks summary: Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4th, 1913. Explore articles from the History Net archives about Rosa Parks
