On the 1st of December 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks, a African-American seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for not standing and letting a white bus rider take her seat.

It was an "established rule" in the American south (at that time) that African-Americans riders had to sit at the back of the bus. African-American riders were also expected to surrender their seat to a white bus rider if it was needed.

When asked to move to let a white bus rider be seated Mrs. Parks refused. She did not argue and she did not move. The police were called and Mrs. Parks was arrested.

Mrs. Parkd was not the first African-American to be arrested for this "crime." But she was the first to be arrested who was well know in the Montgomery African-American community. She was once the secretary to the president of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

Unlike the preacher, Dees did not turn his back on civil rights. In 1981, he began a battle against hate groups that would make him the target of death threats and arson. That year, two members of the Ku Klux Klan lynched a young black man in Mobile. Dees held the Klan responsible for the actions of it's members, and won a seven million dollar settlement.

On the morning of December 5, the African-American residents of the city refused to use the buses. Most walked, those few with cars arranged rides for friends and strangers, some even rode mules. Only a very small number of African-Americans rode the bus that day.

Autherine Lucy's first day actually attending school was February 3, 1956. It only took one day to get a reaction out of the other students attending the University of Alabama. February 4, violence erupted on the campus and in the streets of Tuscaloosa. It continued for three days. Due to the riot Lucy was suspended on the 7th of February. Not even that calmed down the rioting citizens of Tuscaloosa. February 11, Lucy was forced to to flee the campus, the University's Board of Trustees bared her from campus. But that still wasn't good enough for the people. They wouldn't let up until Lucy was gone for good. February 29, she was ordered to by the courts to be readmitted to the University only to be expelled by a scared University of Alabama. This action by the University caused many problems between the NCAAP and the state of Alabama.

Although Dees in 56 did not consider himself a desegregationist, the incident shocked him. "It was the first time I ever saw a mob in action", he said. "There were swirling bodies, everybody trying to get close to her. I felt if they got their hands on her, they would kill her." The following Sunday, he addressed a group of Baptist students and asked a disturbing question - "how can we profess to be Christians and

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1290
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)