Sixty years ago today, Rosa Parks was arrested for failing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus to a white passenger. Thinking about her courage, the arrest, and the changes that it helped bring about, I realized that I didn't know what became of the charges against her. I was surprised by the answer, and thought I'd share it with others. First trial. The original arrest report is here, and it states that on December 1, 1955, Parks was charged with violating “chapter 6, section 11 of the Montgomery City Code,” which concerned segregation on city buses. According to Wikipedia, she was tried on December 5, 1955, and was convicted of the ordinance violation and disorderly conduct. If Wikipedia is correct about the convictions, the disorderly conduct charge must have been added after her arrest. The trial took place in recorder’s court, a low-level local court. Parks was fined $10 plus $4 in court costs. Trial de novo. The incident sparked a year-long boycott of the city buses and galvanized the young civil rights movement, but this post will stay focused on Parks’ court case. She appealed, apparently to a new bench trial in circuit court, where she was convicted again. If the disorderly conduct charge existed and was brought forward, she was convicted only of the ordinance violation. Parks v. City of Montgomery, 92 So.2d 683 (Ala. Ct. App. 1957) (reciting the procedural history of the case and making no mention of disorderly conduct). Appellate courts. [...]
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