Rosa Parks arrives at court in Montgomery, Ala., in March 1956. (AP Photo/Gene Herrick)

During the 1950s, the law in the South prevented black people from having the same rights as white people. At that time, the South was segregated by law. Black people were forced to sit in the back of public buses. They were not allowed to go to the same schools as white people. They were also forced to use separate restrooms, drinking fountains, and other public facilities.

Those laws made Rosa Parks angry. She was a well-known leader in the African American community of Montgomery, Alabama. For years, Rosa Parks had stood up to unfair laws against African Americans. She worked courageously with other African American leaders to change them. She also was one of the first women in Montgomery to join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to fight for civil rights, or equal rights under the law.

Rosa Parks had refused to move from her seat on city buses in the past. Drivers simply forced her off the bus. But 50 years ago, on December 1, 1955, her action changed history. She refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person and was arrested. Her arrest led to the Montgomery bus boycott. During the yearlong boycott, African Americans refused to ride public buses. As a result of the boycott and Rosa Parks's courage, the law was changed to provide equal seating on buses. It marked the beginning of the struggle to end segregation.

Download a read-aloud play about Rosa Parks and the Montogomery bus boycott.

©2005, 2012 Weekly Reader Corporation. This article originally appeared in WR News Edition 4, November 18, 2005.