The 1956 U.S. Supreme Court judgement finding Montgomery, Alabama's bus segregation statutes unconstitutional was the result of the Montgomery bus boycott, a widespread civil rights protest against the city's public transportation system by activists and their allies. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most significant figures in the American civil rights movement, was also thrust into the public eye during the 381-day bus boycott.

The incident that led to the boycott occurred in Montgomery on December 1, 1955, when seamstress Rosa Parks resisted giving up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. According to local legislation, white people should sit in the front of the bus while African Americans should sit in the back. Black people had to give up their back row seats if the white section filled up. Parks was arrested when she refused to give up her seat to a white rider and was eventually released on bond by a local civil rights activist.