On a chilly evening on 1st December 1955, a small act of defiance by an African-American woman laid the seeds of the civil rights movement in USA.

Rosa Parks, the 42 year old woman was returning home to Cleveland after her work when she boarded the bus from Montgomery.  She sat in the middle of this General Motors (GM) bus reserved for the blacks. These seats were 10 seats behind the 'whites only' marked seats.

During the journey, the bus stopped and 4 more whites boarded the bus. As the bus was full the conductor asked Rosa Parks to get up and move behind. She refused to do so and was arrested by the Police for violating law. Civil law activists boycotted the Montgomery bus.