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How the arrest of Rosa Parks shaped America

Rosa Parks, is fingerprinted by police Lt. D.H. Lackey in Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 22, 1956. She was among some 100 people charged with violating segregation laws. Parks refused to move to the back of a bus two months earlier on Dec 1, 1955. (Gene Herrick/AP)
Gene Herrick/AP
Rosa Parks, is fingerprinted by police Lt. D.H. Lackey in Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 22, 1956. She was among some 100 people charged with violating segregation laws. Parks refused to move to the back of a bus two months earlier on Dec 1, 1955. (Gene Herrick/AP)

Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley considers Dec. 1, 1955, one of the most significant days in American history. He tells host Scott Tong why — it was the day Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man.

Brinkley is also the author of “Rosa Parks: A Life,” and contributor to the new National Geographic book “1,000 Days in America: An Illustrated History of the Moments That Defined a Nation.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

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