Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. Rosa was a seamstress who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus. Rosa Parks was a strong civil rights advocate and she was able to make history by becoming the first black person to be arrested for refusing to give up their seat on a bus. The bus was a symbol of oppression and unfair treatment of African Americans. The Rosa Parks bus boycott and arrest paved the way for the Civil Rights movement.