The montgomery bus boycott was a political and a social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of montgomery alabamait was a seminal event in the civil rights movement in the united states the campaign lasted from december 5 1955 the monday after rosa parks an african american woman was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a . Learn the history of rosa parks and how her actions and the boycott that followed led to the end of bus segregation in montgomery alabamasocialstudies ed. On a cold december evening in 1955 rosa parks quietly incited a revolution by just sitting down she was tired after spending the day at work as a department store seamstress she stepped onto the bus for the ride home and sat in the fifth row the first row of the colored sectionin montgomery alabama when a bus became full the seats nearer the front were given to white passengers