Rosa Parks
When
Rosa Parks was born, she was named Rosa Louise by her parents. Her
father was a carpenter and her mother was a teacher. Her parents
separated when she was two years old, and she with her mother and
brother moved to her grandparent's farm.
Her mother, Leona, homeschooled her until she was eleven, then she
attended a private school; the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls.
Her training there helped to shape her views which would guide her
later in life.
During this time in America blacks did not enjoy the rights they have
today. Rosa remembered living in fear when she was a child as a result
of the insults and prejudices against people of her race.
She attended college, but had to drop out to care for her grandmother
who became ill. Later she cared for her mother. She married Raymond
Parks, who was a barber. They were active in the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP (pronounced "N double
A C P").
Rosa worked as a seamstress*. It was very
tiring sitting at a sewing machine and sewing all day. To get to work
she rode the bus.
Black people could not sit just anywhere they wanted in the
bus. They had to sit in the back of the bus. If white people were
already sitting in the front of the bus, the black person had to pay
the fare, get off the bus, and reenter at the back door. Sometimes the
bus driver just drove off and left them before they could get back on
at the back door. If the bus filled up with people, the driver would
ask a black person to move so he could reposition the movable sign
which divided the black and white sections.
On December 1, 1955 after a hard day at work, Rosa was riding the bus
home when the driver asked her and three black men to move to make more
room in the white section. The three men moved, but Rosa refused. A
police officer came, arrested her and took her to jail. She was bailed
out that evening.
She didn't plan the incident, but when it happened, she decided to
stand up for her rights. She was tired of being humiliated* and treated unfairly.
She was not the first black person to refuse to move on a bus, but when
the event happened to her, civil rights*
leaders knew they had found someone to champion their cause. Rosa was a
person who was above reproach, and people could not find fault with her
character.
A group was formed and 35,000 handbills were distributed calling for a
boycott*
of the buses. This meant the blacks would refuse to ride the buses
unless they were desegregated and they could sit anywhere in the bus.
And refuse they did! For more than a year, 381 days, they boycotted the
buses. They carpooled, rode in cabs, and walked to work.
There was a lot of violence and bombings. Martin Luther King rose as a
leader during this time and his house was bombed. Black churches were
destroyed.
On November 13, 1956 the United States Supreme Court ruled that
segregation*
was unlawful, and the city of Montgomery, Alabama had no right to
impose it on people riding their buses. The next month the signs on the
bus seats designating white and colored sections were removed. The
boycott was over.
Rosa lost her job and was unable to get another one in Montgomery. She
and Raymond moved to Virginia.
During her lifetime she was awarded many honors for her
courageous stand. There was the Rosa Parks Peace Prize in 1994, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal
in 1999. A library and museum is dedicated to her in Montgomery,
Alabama.
Rosa Parks passed away on October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. Her casket
was placed in the rotunda*
of the United States Capitol for two days. This is an honor usually
only reserved for Presidents when they die. People waited in line for
pay their respects.
Today people of all color can sit wherever they wish on buses
throughout the nation due to the courage and determination of one
woman, Rosa Parks.
Biography at gardenofpraise.com