Rosa Parks, Minnie Rogers and many others fought for civil rights; you can too. Bob Delaney, for NBA.com February 18, 2021 5:36 PM On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks sat on a Montgomery, Ala. bus and refused to give up her seat to a white man. It would become a moment that defined a movement, forever shaping the course of civil rights history in the United States with that simple gesture of bravery and defiance. Though she sat alone that day, Rosa Parks truly was never alone. Her strength was anchored in what drives human resiliency. Confronting fear and rising above ignorance is often triggered by an incident such as the one she faced. In this case, the cause was a segregationist system that she felt compelled to challenge.