Slavery was abolished in 1865, but in 1876, the Jim Crow Laws declared segregation legal in the southern states of the USA. Black people and white people were separated and had to respect laws. For example, they weren't allowed to attend to the same places, such as schools, restaurants and even sit in the same section of a bus. Indeed, Black people had to sit at the back of the bus whereas white people sat at the front. However, in 1955, on Dec 1st, a black woman, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her sit to a white man and was arrested by the police. The black people of Montgomery protested by boycotting all the buses of the city. Thanks to Rosa Parks, African Americans began a great struggle for freedom. This movement led by Martin Luther King was called the Civil Rights Movement.
Before she died in 2005, Rosa Parks, whose nickname was "the mother of civil rights", had received many honors.