The Greensboro Transit Authority (GTA) in Greensboro, NC, commemorated Rosa Parks’ 1955 refusal to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, AL, with the Rosa Parks Bus Tour on Dec. 1—the 54th anniversary of the act, which spurred a bus boycott of more than a year and was a pivotal event in the civil rights movement.

A special GTA transit bus visited four middle schools, where City of Greensboro Public Transportation Manager Elizabeth James spoke about Parks’ efforts and touched on the benefits of public transportation in Greensboro. GTA staff also distributed commemorative buttons to riders at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot transit center.

“In the strides that we have seen as of late in our great country, we must take great care not to lose sight of those moments that made them possible,” James noted. “We are now in a period where the city of Greensboro has seen its first African-American mayor, chief of police, city manager—and of course, nationally, first African-American President of the United States. None of this would be possible without the selfless actions of others at strategic points in our history, such as [sit-ins by African-Americans] in front of the Woolworth’s counter [in Greensboro in 1960] or on that Montgomery transit bus.”

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