Although not often highlighted in American history, before Rosa Parks changed America when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus in December 1955, 19th-century African-American civil rights activists worked strenuously from the 1850s until the 1880s for the cause of equal treatment in public transportation.
While often overlooked in American historical accounts, before Rosa Parks' groundbreaking act of defiance on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus in December 1955, African-American activists from the 1850s to the 1880s devoted themselves to fighting for equitable access to public transportation.