A female activist is defined as advocate for women's social, political, and economic rights Dictonary.com (2016). Rosa Louise McCauley or famously known as “Rosa Parks” has made history as a female activist by being the leading spokesperson of the civil rights movement in the United states of America. Rosa Parks was not only an advocate for females she was an advocate for the African American race. Rosa Parks was also known as the “Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement” with this title came with many obstacles that Rosa Parks had to face during this time of racism, segregation and discrimination. This paper will shed light on challenges and hardships, religious influence, inclusive strategies and achievements that Rosa Parks has been …show more content…
History staff (2009) the night that Rosa was arrested she contact her husband, the word of her arrest had spread quickly and E.D. Nixon (local civil rights leader) was there when Parks was released on bail later that evening. History staff (2009) says that Nixon had hoped for years to find a courageous black person of unquestioned honesty and integrity to become the plaintiff in a case that might become the test of the validity of segregation laws. Sitting in Parks’ home, Nixon convinced Parks—and her husband and mother—that Parks was that plaintiff (p.1). Nixon saw Rosa’s situation as a platform to promote inclusion in the African American community. Together Rosa, Nixon and other brave supporters all came together to organize a bus boycott. Information about the boycott spread like wild fire throughout the community, black citizens were encouraged to walk, take black owned cabs, carpool and stay home to guarantee success of the boycott. The boycott started on Monday, December 5, 1955 and lasted a total of 382 days. The bus boycott was not easy but wit consistency many achievements and goals that were set were …show more content…
Biography Online (n.d.) Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company’s finances, until the law requiring segregation on public buses was lifted. The black community’s bus boycott has been marked one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation (para.22). According to Biography Online after the boycott, Rosa Parks became an icon and leading spokesperson of the civil rights movement in U.S. Later In 1965 Rosa Parks was hired by African-American U.S. Representative John Conyers, she worked as his secretary until her retirement in 1988. Some awards that Rosa has been given are She was selected to be one of the people to meet Nelson Mandela on his release from prison in 1994. Also In 1996 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton and lastly, in 1997 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal – the highest award of Congress. These achievements mentioned are only a few accomplished by Rosa Parks. She influenced in the black community male and
Martin Luther King led the boycott. turned out to be an immediate success, despite the threats and violence against white people. A federal court ordered Montgomery buses. desegregated in November 1956, and the boycott ended in triumph. King led several sit-ins, this kind of movement was a success.
An event to remember....- While the fight by blacks for civil rights had been going on for years, it took one middle-aged black woman with tired feet and a strong will to really get the battle going. On the 1st of December 1955, seamstress Mrs. Rosa Parks, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for not standing and letting a white bus rider take her seat, she was found guilty of the crime of disorderly conduct with a fine of fourteen dollars.
Although the other African Americans complied, Rosa Parks did not. She was then arrested and fined. The Montgomery Bus Boycott took place for days after the incident with Rosa Parks from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. During this time, African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in protest of segregated seating. The Bus Boycott lasted 381 days.
On the website “www.rosaparksfacts.com” it’s stated that Parks has won/ received in total 5 award and also stated her top 10 achievements. Rosa list of 5 award are in 1979 the Spingarn Medal, in 1995 the Golden plate award , in 1996 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1999 the Congressional Gold Medal , and in 2000 the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Parks has outstanding, amazing awards due to her dignity and intelligence. First Of all, the spingarn medal in 1979 was given to Rosa parks due to honour “the man or woman of African descent and American citizenship who have made the highest achievement during the preceding year or years in any honorable field.” Second, in 1995 the Golden Plate award was given to Parks due to her actions in the citywide boycott of the bus system by African Americans that lasted more than a year.Third, in 1996 parks received the presidential medal of Freedom due to a meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. fourthly , Rosa Parks received the Congressional Gold medal in 1999 recognized as "a living icon for freedom in America" 44 years after she refused to give up her bus seat for a white man and was arrested. Last but not least, Parks received the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama award in 2000 due to her being in a Story in an
The bus boycott succeed because the black people stood up for what they thought was right, they did not use violence, they did not fight back, they fought smart, and they fought right. See many of the white people abuse the power that they had by making the blacks give up their seats after long days of work, and making them go to the back of the store to purchase food and other items. They treated them different because they didn’t have the same skin tone, but little did they know that on December 1st 1955 everything was about to change; one day on the bus ride home when Rosa Parks decided that she was not going to stand and let a young white man have her seat after a long day at work, she was arrested.
The Montgomery bus boycott was caused when Rosa Parks, an African American woman on December 1, 1955 refused to obey the bus driver James Blake’s that demanded that she give up her seat to a white man. Because she refused, police came and arrested her. During her arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience, it triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world. Soon after her arrest, Martin Luther King Jr. led a boycott against the public transportation system because it was unfair. This launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the
Rosa Parks got numerous honors amid her lifetime, including the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP's most noteworthy grant, and the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Honor. On September 9, 1996, President Bill Clinton granted Parks the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the most noteworthy honor given by the United States' official branch. The next year, she was granted the Congressional Gold Medal, the most elevated recompense given by the U.S. administrative branch. In 1999, TIME magazine named Rosa Parks on its rundown of "The 20 most compelling People of the twentieth Century."
On December 1, 1955, Parks was taking the bus home from work. Before she reached her destination, she silently set off a revolution when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. As a black violating the laws of racial segregation, she was arrested. Her arrest inspired blacks in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to organize a bus boycott to protest the discrimination they had endured for decades. After filing her notice of appeal, a panel of judges in the District Court ruled that racial segregation of public buses was unconstitutional. It was through her silent act of defiance that people began to protest racial discrimination, and where she earned the name “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” (Bredhoff et
Rosa Parks was a member of the NAACP, lived in Montgomery Alabama, and rode the public bus system. In the south, during this time the buses were segregated which meant that black people had to ride in the back of the bus behind a painted line. White people entered the front of the bus and were compelled to sit in front of the painted line. Most buses at the time had more room for white riders who used the service less than the black ridership. Yet, they could not cross the line even if the seats in the front were empty (Brown-Rose, 2008). Rosa Parks made a bold statement when she sat in the “white section” of a Montgomery bus. She was asked to surrender her seat to a white man, but she did not move and was soon arrested. Her brave action started the Montgomery bus Boycott, with the help of the NAACP, none other than Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership as part of the Montgomery Improvement Association. As its President, he was able spread the word quickly which brought national attention to the small town of Montgomery’s bus Boycott. The boycott was televised and brought so much attention that the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional; a success spurring a more
On December 1, 1955 Rosa parks got arrested by the police in Montgomery because people thought she violated the segregation. She sat in the middle of the bus and refused to give up her seat to a white man when the bus was starting to get full. Because of this, a boycott began in the city of Montgomery. Most people regard Rosa parks as the mother of civil rights. 75% of the bus system in Montgomery was African American so they lost lots of profit when the boycott started. Martin Luther king would come a few months later to help with the boycott. This is when the movement truly begins. The boycott lasted 381 days.
Although the boycott was long, gruesome, and almost 400 days Parks made it through but was exhausted by the end. (biography.com) The leader that started the boycott was Rosa Parks, and without her and the NAACP there would have been no boycott at all. It all started on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks was on her way home from a long day at work. After she sat down and the bus was ready to depart, the bus driver asked the first row of African Americans to get up because there was a white man who didn't have a seat.
Parks had a plethora amounts of rewards that she gained. She remained an esteemed figure in the history of American Civil rights activism. In 1979 she earned the Spingarn Award by the NAACP, she received the MArtin Luther King Jr. award in 1980. Also, she got the presidential Medal of Freedom award in 1996, 1999 she earned the Congressional Gold Medal by Bill Clinton. She was also named on of the top 20 most influential people of the 20th century by Times Magazine.
(3) Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955): After the supreme court decided to end segregation, African Americans started to speak out more about their racial opinions. In Montgomery, Alabama, a bus boycott ended with a victory for the African Americans. The Supreme Court ruled that the Alabama segregation laws were unconstitutional. During the boycott a young African American Baptist minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. became well known. Throughout the long contest he advised African Americans to avoid violence no matter had badly provoked by whites. Rosa Parks tired of sitting in the back of the bus, and giving up her seat to white men. One weary day she refused to move from the front of the bus, and she became one of history's heroes in the Civil Rights Act movement.
Rosa Parks, however, was no victim of anything. She and many other black women had complained numerous times about racist remedies that have they been receiving on the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. The analysis included rape and different types of sexual violence’s. In 1943 Rosa Parks had an altercation with James F. Blake, the same bus driver who had her apprehended on that eventful day, because she repudiated to exit the bus and reenter by the rear door she had paid her fare. The same year she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Montgomery, Alabama, and was elected secretary. The job had her interviewing, discovering and documenting incidents of sexual violence against black women throughout the
Blacks walked miles to work, organized carpools, and despite efforts from the police to discourage this new spark of independence, the boycotts continued for more than a year until in November 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that the Montgomery bus company must desegregate it's busses. Were it not for the leadership of Rosa Parks and Jo Ann Robinson, and the support the black community through church congregations, these events may have not happened for many years to come.