ROSA PARKS

 

 

Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress later called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement".

On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, at age 42, refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. This individual act of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Rosa Parks' act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.

Rosa was born on February 4, 1913 to a carpenter father and teacher mother.  When she was young, her parents fought a lot and later separated.  Rosa spent little time with her father, and instead grew close with her grandparents who owned a farm in Pine Level, Alabama.  It was rare for blacks at the time to own a farm, but Rosa's family did, and this was quite an accomplishment considering that Rosa's grandmother and grandfather had been former slaves.  

Rosa's grandfather used to sit on the porch with his gun to protect his family from the Ku Klux Klan, which was still prevalent in the south.  Discrimination, racism, and violence were far from over.  Rosa recalled that there were few opportunities available for blacks and civil rights were virtually nonexistent.  Rosa married Raymond Parks who encouraged her to continue her schooling and join the NAACP.  Little did she know that her future actions would lead to the Montgomery Improvement Association and her nickname "The Mother of Civil Rights." 

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress from Montgomery, Alabama boarded a city bus after a long day of work at a downtown department store.  She had no idea that the action she would soon take would make history and inspire generations of Americans. 

Rosa Parks remembered this particular bus driver, because twelve years ago he made her get off the bus and enter through the rear door.

Rosa Parks walked past the "Whites Only" seats, settling in the middle of the bus.  Since she is an African American, she has tolerated the segregation laws, even though they are humiliating.  As the bus begins to become crowded, Rosa and the other African Americans in her area are told to get up.  Rosa refused to get up.  This led to her arrest and a $14 fine for Rosa.

This was not the end.  With the support of E.D. Nixon, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), the boycott leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., and the tireless efforts of Montgomery's 17,000 Montgomery African Americans who made up 75% of bus riders, segregation on buses became illegal on November 13, 1965. Rosa Parks suffered to right a wrong, to bring justice to an unjust world.