December 1 Birthday
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white passenger. She was arrested. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began four days later and lasted 381 days. The boycott was organized by a young minister named Martin Luther King Jr. Parks was not the first to refuse — Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old, had done the same thing nine months earlier. But Parks was chosen: she was respected, employed, and had the right temperament for a test case. The Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional in 1956. Parks lost her job and moved to Detroit. She said she was not tired physically but "tired of giving in.". People born on December 1 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Tanzanite and the birth flower is Holly. Historical events on December 1 include 1955: Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to give up bus seat in Montgomery, 1824: Presidential election thrown to House (no Electoral College majority), 1990: Channel Tunnel breakthrough — England and France connected underground. Famous people born on December 1 include Woody Allen (1935), Richard Pryor (1940), Bette Midler (1945).