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Primary sourcePhotograph22 February 1956

Rosa Parks fingerprinted after arrest during Montgomery bus boycott, 1956

Gene Herrick · 22 February 1956

A 1956 AP photograph of Rosa Parks being fingerprinted as a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, the campaign King led.

Shows the arrest of Rosa Parks, whose protest sparked the Montgomery bus boycott that King organized and led.

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Black-and-white photograph of a uniformed deputy sheriff with a badge and patches bending over a counter to fingerprint a woman with glasses and her hair pinned back, who wears a striped jacket and looks down at her hand.
Gene Herrick (AP), Rosa Parks being fingerprinted during the Montgomery bus boycott, 22 February 1956. Restored by Adam Cuerden.

About this source

What it is

This photograph, taken by Gene Herrick for the Associated Press on 22 February 1956 and later restored by Adam Cuerden, shows Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by Lieutenant D.H. Lackey. She was one of 73 people arrested that day after a grand jury charged 113 African Americans with organizing the Montgomery bus boycott.

Why it matters

Parks's arrest in December 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat sparked the boycott, which Martin Luther King Jr. helped organize and lead as a young minister. This image shows the legal pressure organizers faced and the courage required to continue the protest despite arrest.

Look closer

  • What does this photograph suggest about how authorities treated boycott leaders?
  • Why might being one of many people arrested that day have been a deliberate strategy by officials?
  • What does this image leave out about the reasons for the boycott itself?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Martin Luther King Jr. on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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