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The US Supreme Court to the case of Rosa Park's, actually never got a chance to hear Mrs. Park's case. Rosa Park's was arrested on charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and appeared before judge John B Scoot. Her lawyer Fred Gray, immediately filled an appeal, but then realized that her case would not be upheld in the Alabama court system for years. Although Mrs. Park's case did not make it to the Supreme Court, her experience on the Montgomery Bus, largely aided the African American community to organize the bus boycott.  Four attorney's decided on a strategy in dealing with the bus segregation issues. Fred Gray, Thurgood Marshall, Robert Carter and Charles Langford, with a plan of action approached three other women (Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald and Mary Louise Smith). These women had also experienced abuse form the Montgomery bus system.  The women became plaintiffs in a federal civil action law against the city and Mayor W.A. Gayle. Affirming the District Court ruling without issuing a written opinion, the US Supreme Court denied the cities petition. Racial segregation on buses within state boundaries became outlawed, the city of Montgomery received an official order to desegregate buses in 1956. Although the four attorneys, and including the other four women may have provided legal change, this write up point out how Mrs. Park's determination, dignity and courage catalyzed the national Civil Rights Movement.  Heidi Beckles 

This site, while covering Martin Luther King Jr. and his struggles for Civil Rights, also covers the U.S. Supreme Court case Browder v. Gayle of 1956 that was a direct result of the bus boycott started in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of the bus. The Court ruled Alabama's segregated busing was unconstitutional and de-segregated buses began running in Montgomery, Alabama in Dec. 1956

This PBS site about the Jim Crow era shows the very interesting side of how the Supreme Court basically had a crucial role in the establishment, maintenance and the end of Segregation and Jim Crow laws in the US. Presidents did not challenge these laws due in part that some of them agreed with the white supremacy ideology themselves. Congress was largely silent since they did not want to alienate the southern states again.

As I was a big fan of the Scholastic book club flyers that I would receive in school, I was excited to see what their website had to offer.  The website contains resources for educators and young readers alike with sections dedicated to teachers, students, and librarians.  The site encourages literacy with the use of bold and colorful images.  The famed photo of Rosa Parks can be found in the section of the website entitled "Culture and Change: Black History in America."  Here, we see several pages dedicated to pivotal moments in Parks's life.  If you click on "court ruling" you will see the photograph.  This page informs us that the day after the segregation laws are deemed unconstitutional, Parks is accompanied by Martin Luther King, Jr. onto a city bus.  This shows us the magnitude of Parks's contribution to the cause.

Because of Rosa Park's fearless defiance towards the bus driver that placed her in jail, an act that was a social norm at this time, the NAACP was able to take on her case with success of getting it to the Supreme Court, to end these segregation laws, which forced people of color to yield to people of white skin whenever a seat is needed. The individuals which were part of the NAACP and The Women's Political Council were powerful in drafting three demands for the bus company: that seating is available on a strictly first-come, first-served basis; that drivers conduct themselves with greater civility to black passengers; and that black drivers are hired for predominately black routes. On refusal of the bus company to comply with the stated demands as I've pointed out above, the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed and elected as president was Martin Luther King. With subsequent campaigns by King, the boycott lasted a whole year. King defended injunction of the M-I-A. Rosa Park's case was ruled in favor by the Supreme Court, and on the 21 of December 1956 bus segregation had ended. Martin Luther King joined Ralph Abernathy and other boycott leaders for a ride on the first desegregated bus. This site is useful to this image because it points out the rigorous and at times dangerous processes in fighting for equality. It is also useful because it briefly explained in this era the leaders involved like Mr. King and Mr. Abernathy. I have always thought that Mrs. Parks fought the battle of jail time and making a difference in her time mostly by herself.

This site has a few more examples of Jim Crow laws across various states in the US. It also has a reference to the timeline of the segregation period in the US. While we remember that there was segregation in the US, it is sometimes hard to imagine how restrictive this period was until we read examples of different laws in different places. All based on the supreme court statement of "Separate but Equal." When reading these laws, I couldn't help but think of all the restrictions that still exist these days on other communities.

This article gives a good brief history of the Jim Crow laws passed around the united states after the civil war. I found it very interesting that right after the civil war, african americans had a great deal of freedoms in the south and only after the withdrawal of north's troops and a supreme court decision that blacks and whites could be "separate but equal" that the situation got inherently worse over the next twenty years. Not only segregation but voter limits as well as social mobility laws were passed which significantly affected civil rights based on white supremacy ideology.

This webpage is dedicated to discussing the case and subsequent trials of the "Scottsboro Boys". The story of the Scottsboro boys illustrates an intersection between race and class in the southern United States in the 1930s. A group of black boys aboard a hobo train seeking work along with a smaller group of white boys and girls. A group of the black boys were accused by two white girls of having been raped. The girls attempted to present themselves as being of a higher class, so as to suggest that they would never be caught dead on one of those trains with those types of people. Truthfully, however, the girls were in fact on the train with them and seeking work as well. The NAACP, a mostly middle-class organization, initially didn't want to have anything to do with the case. They were more concerned with respectability. It was the Communist party's International Labor Defense who ultimately provided competent legal counsel for the boys.

This article gives information about the famous picture of Rosa Parks on the bus. After seeing this picture its safe to assume that this was the day that Rosa Parks felt that she would not get up from her seat. And that the man in the picture was either the bus driver or an angry white man disturbed because of where Rosa was sitting. However the man in the picture was not the driver nor an angry white man. He was a reporter and his name was Nicholas C. Chriss. This historic picture was the day after the Supreme Court ruled that segregated busing was illegal. That day was December 21, 1956.