Sarah Keys Evans was an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1952, Keys was a U.S. Army private traveling from her home in Fort Dix, New Jersey to her duty station in Virginia when she was ordered by the bus driver to give up her seat to a white Marine.

Keys refused and was arrested for violating Virginia's segregation laws. With the help of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Keys fought the charges in court, arguing that her actions were in protest of racial segregation on public transportation.

In 1955, the federal court ruled in favor of Keys, declaring that segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional. This ruling laid the groundwork for the landmark Supreme Court case, Browder v. Gayle, which resulted in the desegregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama.

Sarah Keys Evans' courageous stand against segregation on buses helped to advance the Civil Rights Movement and is remembered as a significant moment in Black history.