Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist who is best known for her refusal to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. This act of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped launch the civil rights movement in the United States. The term 'Bonheur or Parks' refers to both ROSA Parks and French painter ROSA Bonheur, who was a prominent figure in the 19th century art world.