Today in History: December 1, Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat

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Today is Monday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2025. There are 30 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The incident sparked a yearlong boycott of the city's buses and helped fuel the U.S. civil rights movement.

Also on this date:

In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives after none of the candidates (John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay) won more than 50% of the electoral vote. Despite Jackson winning the most electoral votes, Adams would ultimately win the presidency.

In 1965, the first “Freedom Flight” from Cuba to the United States landed in Miami. Over the ensuing eight years, the twice-daily flights allowed more than 250,000 Cuban refugees to migrate to the United States through a joint U.S.-Cuban agreement.

In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery for military service since World War II.

In 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

In 2009, President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops into the war in Afghanistan but promised during a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to begin withdrawals in 18 months.

In 2017, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served in President Donald Trump’s first term as his initial national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about reaching out to the Russians on Trump’s behalf. (Trump would later pardon Flynn.)

In 2020, a huge radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, that played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century collapsed. The collapse stunned many scientists who long had relied on what was once the largest radio telescope in the world.

In 2023, Israel's war with Hamas, which began in October, erupted anew minutes after a weeklong truce expired as Israeli airstrikes hit houses and buildings in the Gaza Strip.

Today’s Birthdays: World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 86. Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 81. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 80. Model-actor Carol Alt is 65. Actor Jeremy Northam is 64. Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Walker is 59. Actor Néstor Carbonell is 58. Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is 55. Actor Riz Ahmed is 43. Singer-actor Janelle Monáe is 40. Actor Sarah Snook is 38. Actor Zoe Kravitz is 37.