Dec. 1, 2018  

On Dec. 1, 1955, an African-American seamstress from racially segregated Montgomery refused to follow a city bus driver’s order to give up her seat to a white passenger. The subsequent arrest of Rosa Parks on that day and the bus boycott that followed became a catalyst for the modern Civil Rights movement. More than 60 years later, in March 2018, the Alabama Legislature gave overwhelming approval to Mrs. Rosa L. Parks Day, to be commemorated annually on Dec. 1. Unlike other state holidays, however, it is not a day off for state workers. Rather, residents of Alabama “are encouraged to observe the day with suitable activities,” according to the description on the state Personnel Department’s official holiday list. Counties and municipalities in Alabama can choose to observe Dec. 1 as a holiday. Last year’s first-ever official state commemoration was marked by a variety of events around the state.

Read more at the Montgomery Advertiser, AL.com, or Biography. 

Exact spot on Dexter Avenue in Montgomery, where Rosa Parks waited for the bus on that fateful day that turned the Civil Rights Movement into a raging human rights war. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1955. (Ebony Magazine, Wikipedia)

A trolley passes the site where civil rights icon Rosa Parks was arrested December 1, 1955, for not giving up her bus seat to a white man October 28, 2005 in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks changed history on December 1, 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. Her arrest for this triggered a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Rosa Parks, c. 1980-1990. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.