While the Montgomery Bus Boycott crippled the city’s public bus system financially, the spark of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat propelled major civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to make a change. Her courage showed that ordinary civilians could challenge deeply entrenched systems of discrimination, and her action became regarded as the modern beginning of the Civil Rights Era, a period that would last until 1968. In the midst of the period, major landmark legislation was signed to fight discrimination. These included the Civil Rights Act of 1964: signed on July 2 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, this law bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965: signed on August 6, also by President Lyndon B. Johnson, this law prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Overall, Rosa Parks’ refusal to move was not just a single act, but a turning point that inspired a movement to fight for equal rights across the United States.