Rosa Parks's Symbolic Bus Ride, 1956

Rosa Parks is shown here during a symbolic ride in the formerly whites-only section of a city bus in Montgomery on December 21, 1956, the day the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation of the city's public transit vehicles. Seated behind her is United Press International reporter Nicholas C. Chriss; he was approached by Look magazine to take part in the staged event and agreed to join in the symbolic photo.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress