For context, a lot of civil rights cases in the US like going back over a hundred years were planted; they don’t happen spontaneously as history usually makes it out to be. “Landmark” civil rights cases are usually going to to be carefully constructed over a period of months or years because a case that fails would push back civil rights for decades.
For example, in the case Plessy vs. Ferguson, an activist group comprised of prominent black, creole, and white people in Louisiana wanted to repeal the Separate Car Act that made black and white passengers have separate accommodations on trains. This group selected and convinced Homer Plessy - similar how an activist group would choose Rosa Parks for a similar task - to go on a whites-only railway car and be prepared to go to jail and go to court with the goal of reaching the Supreme Court. Plessy was specifically chosen because he was mixed-race, an “octaroon,” being only 1/8 black. So Plessy, like Parks, was chosen because their activist groups felt that these test cases could elicit the most sympathy from white moderates and the least ridicule from the white opposition. The case ultimately failed, leading to the concept of “separate but equal,” but laid the foundation for Rosa Parks decades later.
Even today, a lot of civil rights issues are carefully picked and placed because these individuals are usually part of a civil rights organization and/or hand-picked by groups to be the test cases. Many same-sex couples who went up state and federal court to fight for marriage equality weren’t spontaneously thrust into the court system - they were usually chosen to go to court by activist groups and lawyers because they, like Rosa Parks, fit different profiles that they felt would illicit the most sympathy and mainstream acceptance. It’s unfortunately, a tradition in civil rights law to pick someone who will be the face of the mainstream movement.
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