Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
“On a cold December evening in 1955, Rosa Parks quietly incited a revolution by just sitting down” (Rosa Parks). Rosa Parks was 42 years old when she decided she was done putting up with what people told her to do. She suffered being arrested for fighting for what she wanted. Rosa Park’s obstinacy and the Bus Boycott were some acts that affected the Civil Rights Movement. Other effects of the Civil Rights Movement were the way African American were treated and how it changed America as a whole.
During this time period, Rosa Parks was known as “The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”. Rosa Parks died on October 25, 2005 at age 92. Rosa parks felt that everyone should be free and everyone should have the same rights. Rosa Parks was able to read when she was little because she was born 50 years after slavery, in 1913. Her mother taught her to read when she was very little because she was a teacher (Interview with Rosa Parks). The school she went to was very strict about the way things were done. For example:
“The first school I attended was a small building that went from first to sixth grade. There was one teacher for all of the students. There could be anywhere from 50 to 60 students of all different ages. From 5 or 6 years old to in their teens. We went to school five months out of the year. The rest of the time young people would be available to work on the farm. The parents had to buy whatever the student used. Often, if your family couldn't afford it, you had no access to books, pencils, whatever. However, often the children would share” (Interview with Parks).
Rosa Parks first went to the Industrial School for girls when she was little, then went to Alabama State Teachers Colleg...
... middle of paper ...
... black people, but laws say everyone is to be treated equal. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a main point in the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement and the Montgomery Boycott changed the way people are today. The before and after life of African Americans and even whites, is a huge difference.
Works Cited
Chappell, Kevin. Remembering Rosa Parks. n.d. 23 april 2014 .
Interview with Rosa Parks. 2014. 23 april 2014 .
Rosa Parks. 2014. 30 april 2014 .
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. 2014. 25 april 2014 .
She would not be moved. 2014. 23 april 2014 .
The Montgomery Boycott. 2013. 23 april 2014 .
The Montgomery Bus boycott begins. 2014. 5 may 2014 .
Dec. 1, 1955 - Rosa Parks defies city segregation - Often called "the mother of the civil rights movement," Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, b. Tuskegee, Ala., Feb.
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."
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was significant because it was regarded as the earliest mass protest on
Enraged by Mrs. Parks arrest the black community of Montgomery united together and organized a boycott of the bus system until the city buses were integrated. The black men and women stayed of the buses until December 20, 1956, almost thirteen months after the boycott their goal was reached. The Montgomery Bus Boycott can be considered a major turning point in the Civil Rights Movement because it made Martin Luther King Jr. public leader in the movement, starting point for non-violent protest as an effective tool in the fight for civil rights, showed that African-Americans united for a cause could stand up to segregation.
King's leadership and motivation inspired the black community to unite and work as one to overcome the bus segregation laws in an active but non-violent resistance to evil. The boycott saw the rise of King as a civil rights leader and as a representative of the modern civil rights movement. In addition, there were other very important outcomes of the boycott such as, the Browder V. Gayle Supreme Court ruling that proved that the bus segregation ordinance was unconstitutional. Other significant results of the boycott were that it challenged and invalidated many of the Jim Crow laws and that it inspired many other successful boycotts in Southern States. As a result, I believe there were many significant results of the boycott. However, I feel I must agree that Martin Luther King was the most significant and by David Walker, coming up with his four articles my attention towards the Montgomery bus boycott has been drawn in more learning new things and how they connect in ways I never would have
In “The Role of Law in the Civil Rights Movement: The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1957,” author Robert Jerome Glennon discusses how historians have neglected to see the impact the legal system has had on the civil rights movement, particularly the Montgomery bus boycott. Outwardly, many have assumed that the bus integration that later transpired was the result of the boycott which began after Rosa Parks’ arrest in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955. However, in actuality, the success of the Montgomery bus integration was largely attained due to the work of litigation, specifically the Browder v. Gayle case.
On December 1st, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the front of a bus to a white man. It was this simple act of defiance that, arguably, began the Civil Rights movement which lasted from 1955 through the 1960’s and altered the face of our nation forever. Following the arrest of Rosa Parks for her simple denial, African Americans in Montgomery began boycotting the bus system, one of the first major stands against racism in the 1950’s. On the heels of the Brown v. Board of Education segregation trial which had ruled in favor of school integration, this boycott, which proved successful after the seat separation was removed, effectively began the civil rights movement with which we are now so familiar with. The civil rights movement in America aimed to gain civil liberties and rights which were guaranteed by law but withheld from them in society. While the movement lasted from about 1954 to 1968, it was not until the 1960’s that other minorities such as American Indians and women began to join the fight. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s was possibly the most important domestic social movement of the twentieth century. At the very least, it was the most important social confrontation to grip America since the Civil War.
Thousands of Americans gathered and marched peacefully in August 28, 1963 to Washington which was the greatest assemblage for human rights in the history of the United States. They marched for justice, equality and peace. According to the article, “The 1963 March on Washington” Yussuf Simmonds describes, “…An unprecedented gathering of blacks and Whites exposing society 's ills and demanding that the government enforce the laws equally to protect all its citizens regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ethnicity or any other superficial differences that had been place by human beings on other human beings” (1). Dr. King delivered his historic speech “I Have a Dream” which is one of the most influential speeches against racial segregation
“The only tired I was,was tired of giving in”. Those words were spoken by the mother of The Civil Rights Movement,Rosa Parks,who was arrested for defying segregation laws.Which called for blacks and whites to attend different schools,drink from separate water fountains,and sit in partitioned sections of the bus.Rosa Parks was honored as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement because she was apart of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP),she stood up for what was right,and she was a big part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
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.
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.
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
An influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement was Rosa Parks. Rosa parks was born on February 14, 1913. She was born as Rosa Louise McCauley to James McCauley, a carpenter and Leona McCauley, a teacher. She was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. After graduating from Alabama State Teachers’ college, she moved to Montgomery, Alabama with her husband, Raymond Parks. They joined the local NAACP to improve the lives of African Americans in the south. "I worked on numerous cases with the NAACP," Mrs. Parks recalled, "but we did not get the publicity. There were cases of flogging, peonage, murder, and rape. We didn't seem to have too many successes. It was more a matter of trying to challenge the powers that be, and to let it be known that we did not wish to continue being second-class citizens." On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress from Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her seat to a white person on the bus. She was arrested and fined for breaking the law. This incident led to the creation of the Montgomery I...
...ledge concerning her struggle. So long, I only knew of the boycott for the history books point of view, but this book broadens my awareness. Rosa Parks: My Story allows you to become familiar with Rosa personally. It introduces you to her as a little black girl who just want to be treated right. Rosa was much more before the bus boycott, and even so much more after.
During the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 60's, women played an undeniably significant role in forging the path against discrimination and oppression. Rosa Parks and Jo Ann Robinson were individual women whose efforts deserve recognition for instigating and coordinating the Montgomery Bus Boycotts of 1955 that would lay precedent for years to come that all people deserved equal treatment despite the color of their skin. The WPC, NAACP, and the Montgomery Churches provided the channels to organize the black public into a group that could not be ignored as well supported the black community throughout the difficult time of the boycott.