In 1900, Montgomery had passed a city ordinance to segregate bus passengers by race. According to the law, no passenger would be required to move or give up his seat and stand if the bus was crowded and no other seats were available. Over time and custom, however, Montgomery bus drivers adopted the practice of requiring black riders to move when there were no white-only seats left.
Th first four rows of the buses were reserved for white-only passengers. Buses had "colored" sections, usually in the back of the bus, although blacks comprised more than 75% of the ridership. The sections were not fixed, but were determined by placement of a movable sign. Black people could sit in the middle sections until the white sections were filled; if more white people needed a seat, the blacks were supposed to move to the rear seats. If there were none available, they were to stand so the whites could have seats.
Rosa Parks did not like this rule. One day, she was coming home from a long day of work, and she boarded the bus in the middle seats for black people. As more and more white people boarded the bus, the seats in the front started filling up, and soon, there were no more white-only seats left. When another white passenger came on the bus, the conductor told the first row of black people to move and go to the back of the bus. When Rosa refused to move, the bus driver threatened her that if she didn't move, he would call the police and have her arrested. She still refused and the white passenger had to sit across from her as the cops came to get Rosa.
Th first four rows of the buses were reserved for white-only passengers. Buses had "colored" sections, usually in the back of the bus, although blacks comprised more than 75% of the ridership. The sections were not fixed, but were determined by placement of a movable sign. Black people could sit in the middle sections until the white sections were filled; if more white people needed a seat, the blacks were supposed to move to the rear seats. If there were none available, they were to stand so the whites could have seats.
Rosa Parks did not like this rule. One day, she was coming home from a long day of work, and she boarded the bus in the middle seats for black people. As more and more white people boarded the bus, the seats in the front started filling up, and soon, there were no more white-only seats left. When another white passenger came on the bus, the conductor told the first row of black people to move and go to the back of the bus. When Rosa refused to move, the bus driver threatened her that if she didn't move, he would call the police and have her arrested. She still refused and the white passenger had to sit across from her as the cops came to get Rosa.