According to interviews she gave many years ago, Rosa Parks didn't plan on a confrontation on that day back in 1955. She was on her way home from work and she was too tired to give up her seat to anyone. Her subsequent arrest started a chain of events that gave birth to the civil rights movement. Rightfully disgruntled blacks declared a boycott of the Montgomery bus system and, through their churches, organized alternate transportation. It was an articulate young minister from one of those churches, one Martin Luther King, Jr., found his voice as the leader of a movement that changed America.

After Parks arrest, community leaders spread the word that a one day bus boycott was scheduled for December 5. On that cold and cloudy morning, onlookers watched as the buses drove by with few black passengers onboard. The boycott had been a success.

On that afternoon, the leadership met and formed the Montgomery Improvement Association. As their spokesperson, they chose Martin Luther King, Jr., who was an unknown twenty-six year old minister at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. King was scheduled to speak that evening at a mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church. After preparing a speech in only a few hours, Dr. King spoke about unity, Christian love, and nonviolence. It was a powerful message that set the tone for the boycott.

Also, at the mass meeting it was decided to continue the boycott. While there was not a call to end segregation on buses, there were three demands. They demanded courteous treatment from drivers, first come first serve seating, and black drivers for black routes.

That she was an accidental hero in no way diminishes what Rosa Parks did. Few heros plan their act of heroism beforehand. Most react to events and do things that others, equally capable, didn't do at the moment.