The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement Have you ever stood up for someone or something, even if it risked your own life? An upstander is someone who sees something harmful happening and tries their best to help out without second guessing themselves. Rosa parks is an inspirational role model to women and men all around the world. Rosa Parks has been a leader since she was a kid at school. She never dropped out like many of her peers until she had to help her dying grandmother. Rosa Parks risked her life as an upstander for African American equality, and inspired many others to follow in her footsteps.
Rosa Parks did multiple things to relive the title upstander. She stood up for her rights, started a boycott, and changed the daily lives
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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. Everyone got up except Parks, because she didn't want to give in and let them win. “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired,” wrote Parks in her autobiography, “but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”(history.com) Parks was done with being treated badly and tired of being discriminated against, she just wanted her rights back, according to
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It even caused her to move to Michigan to become more of an activist for women. The fight against racism is linked to many more problems in the world. In the words of Dr. King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (feministactivism.com) This states that any unjust act can affect anyone all around the world. None of what Parks did was easy, but she set her mind to it and did it. Rosa Parks risked her life everyday by being a leader and role model in her community. Rosa and her husband were both fired from their jobs and they had no income, which meant they had no money for their family. To make things worse Parks was getting threatening calls and it got to the point of
In conclusion, Rosa Parks was an outstanding hero that helped desegregate the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama. She gained a lot of fellow friendships and also became a civil right Activists. She earned a lot of respect and rewards for her actions of not giving her seat up. As you can see her life her hero story fits very well with Joseph Campbell’s stages of the hero’s
Rosa Parks was a African American woman who sat in the front of the bus after a long hard day at work. As she traveled on the bus back home, a Caucasian male approached and asked her to get up from her seat to go to the back of the bus because he wanted to sit there. Instead of avoiding the trouble and just going to the back of the bus, she decided to stay where she was . Due to the time period, because of her not giving her seat up to the gentlemen, she was arrested and charged with civil disobedience. After her arrest was made a boycott would ensue
Life - Rosa Parks was born only a month before world war one started in Europe on February 4, 1913. Parks mother worked as a school teacher in Tuskegee, Alabama. James McCauley, Rosa's dad was a carpenter. They lived in Tuskegee and owned farmland of their own. After Sylvester was born, Rosa's little brother, her father left them and went off to live in another town. He had been cheated out of his farmland by a white man and couldn't support the family any longer. Rosa her mother and her brother then moved to live with her grandparents on a farm in Pinelevel, which lay between Tuskegee and Montgomery, Alabama. It was a small plot of land, but it kept them all fed. From this point on Rosa was mainly brought up by her Grandparents with the assistance of her mother. Rosa gave up school when she came close to graduating, around the same time Rosa got married. Raymond Parks married Rosa McCauley December 18, 1932. He was a barber from Wedowee County, Alabama. He had little formal education but a thirst for knowledge. Her husband, Raymond Parks, encouraged her to finish her courses. In 1934 she received her diploma from Alabama State College. She was happy that she completed her education but had little hope of getting a better job. When Rosa had finished school she was lucky enough to get a job as a seamstress in a local sewing factory. Prior to the bus incident Rosa was still fighting. She had run-ins with bus drivers and was evicted from buses. Parks recalls the humiliation: "I didn't want to pay my fare and then go around the back door, because many times, even if you did that, you might not get on the bus at all. They'd probably shut the door, drive off, and leave you standing there."
Rosa Parks, with civil disobedience and support from the public, has become an icon for the Civil Rights movement and the change in segregation laws. In 1948, Rosa Parks made a statement that started a revolution, she didn’t get up.
She is an inspiring women whose been hidden for far too long. By one brave woman our world will be forever thankful. She spoke the voice of many African Americans who probably did not have the courage to say no to the bus driver to give up her seat. She was sometimes known as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movements" because of her sense of leadership and justice. Rosa Parks was an inspiration to people because she stood up for herself! Even though she went to jail because of that, she proves to other people that she will not change her ways of living. Rosa Parks is very inspirational to me because she taught me to stick up for myself and to stick up for what I believe in. She is my inspiration and I would recommend people to research and do a paper on her. She is a strong woman who cared about equality. She changed how our world is now of days.
“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy” – J. Scott Fitzgerald. The definition of a hero is to display courage and willing to self-sacrifice for greater good of all human quality; to withstand the hardships for not only oneself but for the entire public. One of America’s greatest civil rights activist, Rosa Parks lived her life as a regular woman until she made the courageous decision to rebel against the unconstitutional government. Standing against something you believe is something we think it is easy to do, but it is actually a hard thing to do it. Rosa Parks, known as “The Mother of the Civil Rights”, is a foundation of society we live in today. Through her brave acts of refusing to give up her seat for a white man in a bus, buy fighting for segregation, voting rights, and standing up for what she believes in, helped start a revolution that changed the lives of a majority of African Americans.
Racism and prejudice have been dominant issues in the United States for many years. Being such a major issue is society, racism is also a major theme in one of the best pieces of American Literature, To Kill A Mockingbird. People, particularly African Americans, have been denied basic human rights such as getting a fair trial, eating in a certain restaurant, or sitting in certain seats of public buses. However, in 1955 a woman named Rosa Parks took a stand, or more correctly took a seat, on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She refused to give her seat to a white man and was arrested for not doing so. The reasons and consequences and the significance of her stand are comparable in many ways to Atticus Finch's stand in To Kill A Mockingbird. Rosa Parks worked for the equality of all people. She was elected secretary of the Montgomery branch of the National Advancement of Colored People, unsuccessfully attempted to vote many times to prove her point of discrimination, and had numerous encounters with bus drivers who discriminated against blacks. She was weary of the discrimination she faced due to the Jim Crow laws, which were laws were intended to prohibit "black[Americans] from mixing with white [Americans]" ("Jim Crow Laws"1). Also, due to the Jim Crow laws, blacks were required to give their seats to white passengers if there were no more empty seats. This is exactly what happened on December 1, 1955. On her way home from work, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man and was shortly arrested (National Women's Hall of Fame1). Even though she knew what the consequences were for refusing to leave her seat, she decided to take a stand against a wrong that was the norm in society. She knew that she would be arrested, yet she decided that she would try to make a change. Although her arrest would seem like she lost her battle, what followed would be her victory. Rosa Parks's stand was so significant that she is called the mother of the civil rights movement (National Women's Hall of Fame1). Her arrest served as a catalyst for a massive boycott for public busses. Led by Martin Luther King, for 381 days, African Americans carpooled, walked, or found other ways of transportation. Despite the harassment everyone involved in the movement faced, the boycott continued and was extremely successful.
Rosa Parks is an amazing example of standing up for the cause. She knew she was supposed to hand over her seat to a white man. She knew that the aftermath of such an act at that time was punishable by jail time. And she did it anyway, for the dream of equal rights to all, no matter the race, color, religion, age, gender etc.
Rosa Parks continued to serve in the civil rights until she died on October 24, 2005. She died in Detroit, Michigan and was ninety-two years old. Rosa was a great symbol of the civil rights movement. She was a very respected woman, but some people still didn't like what she was doing. Rosa never let the disapproval of other get to her and kept fighting for what she wanted. She affected the society we live in today. Without the protests by Parks, which brought attention to segregation on buses, blacks might not have accomplished the desegregation on the buses. We still honor her for all the accomplishments she had made in everyone lives. Her courage to stand up for what she thinks is right, inspires many young people in this world today. Without her help and support, things today would be different.
Rosa Parks was an African-American women who was tired of being treated differently just because of her skin color. She was a very kind woman who fought against all the laws and segregation. Rosa was born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama and died in 2005 in Detroit, Michigan (RM, plc. "Rosa (Louise McCauley) Parks"4). She did something that broke the law at the time but it changed this place and its keeps being an impact to everyone now in present days (Armentrout, DavidArmentrout, Patricia. "ALABAMA: Rosa Parks."1 ). She was on a Boycott bus on December 1, 1955 when the bus filled up and the African-Americans were supposed to give their seat up to the Americans but Rosa didn’t (Badertscher 1). She was 42 at this time so she knew what she was doing and she decided to do it anyways ("Rosa Parks"1). When she refused to give her seat up they ended up taking her to jail because she was breaking a law at the moment (Badertscher 7). She went to jail for something unfair, she was tired of getting no respect and treated like if she nobody or nothing in this world.
Rosa Parks is well known for bringing about change in the civil rights movement and stopping segregation in the south. It is well known that she refused to give up her seat to a white man which seems absurd now, but at that time was actually illegal. She had committed a blatant act of civil disobedience by simply saying 'no'. By this act of civil disobedience she was able to bring national attention to the segregation that was going on in the south, and brought about major changes in creating complete equality for black people that lived in the south. Theses changes helped further our nation into being more accepting, and created a more freer society, this is the impact that one act of civil disobedience had on the nation.
On an evening like any other, Rosa Parks boarded the bus home. She paid for her ticket, shuffled to the back of the bus, and took her seat. As the route continued on, the bus began to fill and eventually became jam-packed with passengers. During the era of segregation, it was at the bus driver’s discretion to remove colored passengers from the bus (Rosa Parks Biography.com). When the bus driver asked Rosa to give up her seat, she refused. She was arrested and thrown in the county jail. Her arrest prompted the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which is considered to be one of the most effective protests of all time. Rosa Parks is an inspiration because she sparked social change during a controversial time in American History.
Rosa Parks was an extremely strong woman, who was really brave, she was fighting for what was right for women and blacks. Rosa Parks had very many characteristics such as being; very brave, faithful and stubborn. Rosa Parks was a black woman who was sitting in her section of the bus, but was asked to sit up by the conductor. She was asked to sit up because a white man needed to sit down in the bus. Rosa Parks, who was a seamstress, was very brave. She grew up in the city of Tuskegee, AL.
If I could sum up the word courageous in 2 words it would be Confident and Inspirational. I personally chose these words because as any hero, without courage they wouldn’t have the ability to be confident and do what they were destined to do. Rosa Parks is known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” According to the article An Act Of Courage “Rosa Parks challenged the established order in Alabama at a time when many people were arguing about the future of segregation. Her family was concerned for her safety, knowing there was great tension in Montgomery. Parks knew the risks when she defended her rights and was determined to do more for her community. Her actions inspired other African Americans to rally for equality.” This event in
Rosa Parks: My Story is an autobiography. Parks tells about her vital role in the struggle for equality. In detail this book explains how the civil rights movements started. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus, beginning the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott.