Rosa Parks, the African-American woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man helped launch the civil rights movement, died on Monday. She was 92.

On December 1, 1955, Parks defied a racist law in Montgomery, Alabama, that required African-Americans to give up seats in the front of the bus to white passengers and move to the rear. She was found guilty and fined $10, prompting a legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down the law.

The act of defiance also prompted a boycott of the bus system while the case was in the courts. The boycott lasted nearly 400 days and ended only when the Supreme Court issued its decision.

Parks had been suffering from dementia in recent years. The cause of her death has not been reported.

Get the Story:
Bus Ride Shook a Nation's Conscience (The Washington Post 10/25)
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Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies (The New York Times 10/25)
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