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ALBANY, GA -- Rosa Parks sat down in a front seat of a bus during segregation and refused to move to the back when asked, leading to a bus boycott. To commemorate her, city buses are reserving seats for her.

“This is a highlight to that those who don't know can be educated; those who knew and know can be reminded,” says Albany Transit Director Dwain Cosby.

For the entirety of Black History Month, city buses will save two seats in memory of Civil Rights mover and shaker Rosa Parks: A woman who sat down to take a stand.

Employees at the Albany Civil Rights Institute like the action Albany Transit is taking.

“Our knowledge of African American history is pretty weak, and that's one of the reasons the Albany Civil Rights Institutes exists is to help people recall those days and the struggles that people went through so I think it's a wonderful idea,” says Executive Director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute Lee Formwalt.

Cosby says Albany Transit has received positive feedback about the reserved seats from bus riders, but other people who get on the bus don’t know who she is.

“They've heard the name Rosa Parks but they didn't really understand what she did or what it stood for and how it was a starting point for the Civil Rights Movement,” says Cosby.

Formwalt says Rosa Parks is not the only historical figure from the Civil Rights Movement that people forget.

“Most people know Martin Luther King, but like with Malcolm X, I remember someone asking me ‘Who is Malcolm the Tenth?’” says Formwalt.

He say history takes a back seat for people these days.

“That's a complete lack of understanding of what the Civil Rights Movement was all about. What it tells me is that we're in the right business. There's a lot of work that needs to be done,” Formwalt says.

Cosby hopes the efforts of the Albany Transit reserving seats for Rosa Parks will help.

“A lot of people don't take hold of history like they should and this is one of the reasons we're highlighting this on our bus system,” he says.

Formwalt says the city buses could highlight Albany Civil Rights history by making a sign for a local Rosa Parks: Ole Mae Quarterman. Quarterman was an Albany State student during segregation and refused to give up her front seat on an Albany Transit bus.

“It did lead to a strike and the halting of bus services as a result of that action,” says Formwalt.