On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, defied a local segregation ordinance in Montgomery, Alabama. She refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man and move to the back. The incident led to a wave of protest that ultimately tore down segregation laws across the South.

Rosa Parks like a rolling stone unleashed a potent force for change in the US Civil Rights movement in the 1960's. She was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1996.

"Well my mother told my father just before I was born, I got a boy child commin', gonna be a Rollin Stone... "

"Rollin Stone" by Muddy Waters

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