 
one day in 1955, a crowded bus in montgomery, alabama, stopped to take on 
some white passengers. 
the driver told the blacks sitting toward the front of the bus to move to 
the rear where the law required them to ride. 
everyone except mrs. rosa parks got up. 
she refused to leave her seat. 
later she said, "i was just plain tired, and my feet hurt." 
so the driver summoned the police, who arrested her. 
this act aroused the black community of montgomery, and they decided to 
boycott the bus company. 
negroes used their own personal or commercial vehicles to provide 
transportation for others. 
many walked to work. 
they refused to ride buses until they could sit where they chose. 
at the same time they took the case to court to force the bus company to 
stop discrimination. 
the bus boycott lasted 382 days. 
it became a historic turning point for the civil rights movement in the 
south. 
it showed southern blacks how to fight for their rights. 
it also thrust dr. martin luther king, jr., into the national spotlight as 
a black leader. 
king was born in 1929, on january 15, now a holiday in some communities. 
he was the son of an atlanta, georgia, preacher. 
he remembered that when he was a child his father took him into a store to 
buy a pair of shoes. 
the white clerk approached and said, "if you will move to the back, i"ll 
be glad to help you." 
"you will wait on us here," the father shot back, "or we won"t buy any 
shoes." 
