Rosa Parks was a civil rights pioneer 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. She was arrested and convicted for violating the segregation laws, but her actions were seen as a symbol of resistance to racial injustice. Parks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.