Which event served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, sparked by Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Civil Rights Act
• C. Montgomery Bus Boycott
• D. Voting Rights Act

Answer: (C)

The idea being tested is how a single act of resistance can spark a large-scale, organized movement through peaceful protest. Rosa Parks’ decision to refuse to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus in December of 1955 sparked a citywide boycott led by the local community and rooted in nonviolent action. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted over a year and brought national attention to the fight against segregation, showing that collective, peaceful resistance could challenge Jim Crow laws and win real change. The boycott helped propel Martin Luther King Jr. into a national leadership role and demonstrated the effectiveness of sustained, mass participation and moral witness. It also culminated in a court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, providing a legal victory that energized the broader Civil Rights Movement and inspired similar actions across the country.

Other milestones, like the Supreme Court ruling on school segregation and later landmark laws, were influential in shaping the movement, but they followed the organizing and momentum created by the Montgomery Bus Boycott rather than serving as its direct spark.