Minutes from the Montgomery Branch, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

After defying an order to move to the “colored” section of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks went on to become an iconic figure in the Montgomery bus boycott protesting racial segregation. But more than just a symbol of the civil rights movement, Parks was an active participant who dedicated much of her time and energy to the cause of justice. As the longtime secretary of the Montgomery branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Parks took minutes at a special meeting of the branch’s executive committee to discuss her legal case. Her handwritten notes, shown here, make clear the strategy, planning, and organization required to make a successful case against racial segregation on city buses. Included is a simple note in which Parks refers to herself in the third person: “She is willing to take case to the fullest extent of the law.”