ACLU Honors Rosa Parks, Rights Activist
Rosa Parks, the former seamstress who 33 years ago set off a decade-long battle for civil rights, was honored on Sunday for her efforts by a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Parks, 75, was given the Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award by the Northern California branch of the ACLU for her refusal to obey a Montgomery, Ala., bus driver’s order to give up her front seat to a white man.
Parks was arrested Dec. 1, 1955, and subsequently fined $14 for violating the city’s segregation laws, which required blacks to move to the rear of buses if white patrons needed seats in the front.
The arrest set off a successful, yearlong boycott of Montgomery’s bus system, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
