Rosa Parks Rosa Louise Parks was a civil rights leader born in Tuskegee, Alabama. In 1955 she was arrested for violating segregation laws when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This resulted in a boycott of the bus system by blacks, with Martin Luther King, Jr. leading the movement. In spite of harassment the boycott continued, and in 1956 segregated seating was challenged in a federal law suit. Parks' personal history has been lost in the retelling of the event. Prior to her arrest, Mrs. Parks had a firm and quiet strength to change things that were unjust. She served as secretary of