Which event catalyzed the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

• A. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat
• B. MLK announced the boycott
• C. Bus company integrated buses
• D. Supreme Court desegregated buses

Answer: (B)

The event being tested is the moment that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. That spark was Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, which led to her arrest and sparked a local outcry. This act of civil disobedience galvanized Black residents and civil rights leaders to organize a city-wide boycott of the buses, led by the Montgomery Improvement Association with Martin Luther King Jr. emerging as a leading figure during the protest. The boycott itself lasted 381 days and ended after a Supreme Court ruling desegregating public buses. So the key idea is that Parks’ act of defiance triggered the boycott, while MLK’s leadership helped sustain it and the legal victory ended it.