Rosa Parks
When hearing “Rosa Parks,” what comes to mind? For most people, its how she refused to give her seat up to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks, born Rosa Louise McCauley, faced discrimination from an early age, and watched her people work for equal right. Once her parents separated, she moved from Tuskegee, Alabama to Pine Level, Alabama to live with her mother and grandparents. She witnessed racial discrimination up close living on her grandparent’s farm, at one time watching her grandfather hold a shotgun as the Ku Klux Klan marched down the street. Attending a segregated school up until the eleventh grade, Parks left to tend to her sick grandmother and mother. At the age of 19, Rosa Parks married Raymond Parks, an active member of NAACP. Influenced by her husband’s participation, Parks soon also joined in NAACP.
After earning her high school degree in 1933, she joined in on the Civil Rights Movement by joining NAACP in 1943 by being the group’s youth leader and secretary to President E.D. Nixon, a role she played until 1957. Buses were segregated but assigning seats, blacks in the back while the “equal” whites sat in the front. If more white people came on, the bus driver would move the line and if it were necessary, have a black person give up their seats. For Rosa Parks, this was not the case. As the bus driver demanded and questioned why she wouldn’t give up her seat, Parks responded with "I don't think I should have to stand up." After being arrested after refusing to give up her seat, the Montgomery Bus Boycott broke out. Parks commented on the matter, “At the time I was arrested, I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.” On December 5th, 1955, all African Americans were encouraged to not ride the bus in protest of Parks’ trial. Parks lost her trial, but the event sparked a brand new revolution. Parks soon left Alabama with her husband after both got fired from their jobs, but what she did is still remembered as one of the most courageous moments of the Civil Rights Movement.
Personally, I feel this entire thing was stupid. I don’t understand why people are so obsessed with superiority. Who cares about skin color? Who cares about who has more money than who? We’re all people and if you’re personally going to deny someone, who is just like you, their rights then I suggest you look at your life and look at your choices. Rosa Parks was so influential by refusing to give up her seat. Keep in mind, women haven’t even had rights fifty years yet, and look at how confident Parks was. She was tired of giving in to what society expects from her, and I personally wish that everyone had that courage. History constantly repeats itself, and in 2013, I feel we need a Rosa Parks. Instead of skin color, the LGBTQ community has to fight for their right for marriage. Seriously? If Rosa Parks was here, I feel she would stand up for them. I just don’t see why people are so judgmental. A little off topic, but this is an opinion piece and relevant to Rosa Parks. If everyone was as courageous as she was then we wouldn't have to deal with this. People cannot handle change, and the fact that an African American woman could spark something historical truly opened my eyes. She was such an amazing woman, and I wish she was still around today.
QUESTIONS:
1.) What is Rosa Parks mostly known for?
When Rosa Parks comes to mind, people mostly think about about her famous form of protest in Montgomery. In 1955, she performed one of the courageous acts of defiance in the civil rights movement; rather than obeying the laws and giving up her seat to a white man on the bus, she refused to get up. Her action influenced others to be just as brave and also sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
2.) What is another way Rosa Parks contributed to the civil rights movement?
She joined the NAACP and became the groups leader and secretary.
http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715?page=1