Rosa Parks had no intention of becoming the symbol of the civil rights struggle, a name synonymous with courage to stand against oppression. But she was not just an ordinary seamstress either: both she and her husband were active members of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People and other civil-rights organizations. She was college-educated and well aware of the personal and general consequences of her actions. But she also knew that the driver who ordered her to give up her seat that fated afternoon was the same who forced her off the bus in humiliation years before. This time, she decided, would be different.

On this day, December 1, in 1955, Rosa Parks defied an order to give up her seat in the black section of the bus to a white passenger. She was arrested and then challenged the arrest, her case leading to a protest and then a Supreme Court decision reversing segregation.

The system in place in public buses at the time of Parks’ famous ride forbade white and black passengers sharing a bench. White passengers entered and sat in the front; black passengers went through the front to pay, then existed and moved to the back door to enter the black section (and hope the bus wouldn’t drive away). If the white section was filled up, a row from the black section had to cleared out – all of the black passengers standing, even if a single white passenger was to sit down.