Who was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama as a test to the Jim Crow bus laws?

• A. Diane Nash
• B. Rosa Parks
• C. Ella Baker
• D. Fannie Lou Hamer

Answer: (D)

Acting on moral courage and nonviolent resistance to unjust laws, this event centers on Rosa Parks, who was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person. Her arrest became the catalyst for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a mass, sustained protest led by Black community members and leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. that highlighted how segregation on public transportation violated basic rights and could be challenged through organized, nonviolent action. The boycott ultimately contributed to a Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional, signaling a major victory for the broader civil rights movement. The other figures listed were influential in civil rights in different contexts—Nash in sit-ins in Nashville, Baker in grassroots organizing, Hamer in voting rights in Mississippi—so they’re not the person tied to the Montgomery bus laws.