Rosa Parks’ interview (1956)

J - You said that you did not take a seat in the white section […]. What happened is
that you were in what is normally a colored section, and because whites had to stand
up at this point the driver asked you to get up to allow someone else to sit down.

RP - Yes, a white person.

J - A person who may or may not have been as tired as you.

RP - It’s true.

J - But had not paid any more than you had.

RP - No.

J - And then what happened?

RP - The driver said that if I refused to leave the seat, he would have to call the
police, and I told him just call the police, which he did and when they came, they
placed me under arrest.

J - Wasn’t that a pretty frightening thing to be arrested in Montgomery, Alabama?

RP - No, I wasn’t afraid.

J - You weren’t frightened. Why weren’t you frightened?

RP - I don’t know why I wasn’t, but I didn’t feel afraid. I had decided that I would have
to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen even in
Montgomery, Alabama. […]

J - Well, then you were arrested, and what was the charge?

RP - Violation of the segregation law of the city and state of Alabama and
transportation.

J - Yes, but you were sitting in the colored section. What law were you violating?

RP – I don’t think I was violating any.