You May Do That
The evening of December 1, 1955, one single woman changed the lives of many people and the way that they would continue to live. Rosa Parks exhibited one woman's courage and strength to stand up for what she believed in. Mrs. Parks's decision to remain seated and go against the "Believed way" sparked the beginning of the American Civil Rights Movement. In this paper I will discuss Rosa Parks's background, her decision against standing up, and how she started the beginning of the American Civil Rights Movement.
Racism had tainted her life from the very beginning. During her childhood she attended a one-room school for blacks only. She was only allowed to attend school for a short time due to the ailing health of her grandmother. Rosa married young, took in sewing, learned typing, and got very involved in black politics (Rosa Parks). What impressed her most about her future husband, Raymond Parks, was "he didn't have that meek attitudewhat we call an "Uncle Tom' attitudetoward white people." Raymond's involvement in black politics only furthered her efforts and involvement as well (Rosa Parks). After their marriage she attended local NAACP meetings and was then elected secretary of the local Montgomery chapter. In "Rosa Parks", Jill Smolowe of People Magazine, writes as one of the Montgomery chapter's first female members, Rosa served as secretary and youth director, corralling youngsters to protest at the city's main library, which made fewer books available to blacks. Rosa's background and lifetime had a very important role in her decision that changed her life from that very day forward. There was an individual stand for freedom taken by Rosa Parksdefying Jim Crow laws of segregation by refusing to y...
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...liated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression." Rosa Parks almost single handedly changed the future of every American from that evening of December 1, 1955.
Works Cited
Kulman, Linda, and David Enrich. "Rosa Parks". Us World News & World Report. 8 August, 2005 pg 49. EBSCOhost Redlands Community College. 5 November, 2005. http://library.redlandscc.edu.
"Rosa Parks". Economist. 29 October, 2005. PG 90-90. . EBSCOhost Redlands Community College. 5 November, 2005. http://library.redlandscc.edu.
Smolowe, Jill, et al. "Rosa Parks". People Magazine. 7 November, 2005. PG 72-74. EBSCOhost Redlands Community College. 5 November, 2005. http://library.redlandscc.edu.
"The Immovable Rosa Parks". The Christian Science Monitor. 26 October, 2005. PG 8. . EBSCOhost Redlands Community College. 5 November, 2005. http://library.redlandscc.edu.
A lot of women from history have a great influence on our lives today. Two of these women were Emmeline Pankhurst and Rosa Parks. They both stood up for themselves and their cause no matter how hard it got for them. They faced numerous struggles along the way but that didn’t stop them, in fact, it made them even stronger. They both accomplished magnificent things during their lifetime and they are still remembered for those things. Although they are both similar in that they fought for what they believed in, they differ in terms of what they fought for and how they fought it.
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 Life and Activism of Angela Davis. I chose to do this research paper on Angela Davis because of her numerous contributions to the advancement of civil rights as well as to the women’s rights movement. I have passionate beliefs regarding the oppression of women and people of racial minorities. I sought to learn from Davis’ ideology and propose solutions to these conflicts that pervade our society. As well, I hope to gain historical insight into her life and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s.
Rosa Parks was a very important woman in history, giving people a voice about racism. Rosa was an African American woman who was told move from the back of the bus and give her seat to a white man. “She was already sitting in the “negro” section located in the back of the bus and refused to relinquish her seat” (Stabler 1). This event causes a major controversy with the 20th century civil rights movement in the 1950-1960s. The 1965 action of Rosa Parks sparked the deceleration from the Supreme ...
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:
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 Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com." Famous Biographies & TV Shows - Biography.com. Web. 05 Jan. 2012. .
"Rosa Parks." Biography 5.12 (2001): 64. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 22 May 2014.
Rosa Parks’s story is very similar to Viola’s in the fact that both of them had taken a stand to racial segregation by taking a seat. For Rosa it all too similar to what happened to Viola as she had set in a seat which black people were not allowed to sit in, when she did this they asked her to move to where she was supposed to sit(at the back of the bus) but she refused and was arrested. Rosa Parks & Viola Desmond both did similar actions, however, what they received for doing this was very different once racial segregation was no longer socially acceptable was much
Philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey, in her Eulogy, commends Rosa Parks as she will always be remembered for making history for African American people even if she has passed away. Winfrey’s purpose is to tell the world the difference Rosa Parks made not only for African Americans but to everyone else as well. She establishes this by utilizing tone, repetition and pathos in order to express that Rosa Parks left a mark in this world in such a courageous way.
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 Biography -- Academy of Achievement." Academy of Achievement Main Menu. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .
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.
Rosa Parks, was a Civil Rights activist who was best known for the incident on the Montgomery bus. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white male who demanded she seat herself in the ‘appropriate colored’ space located at the back of the bus for black men and women. Her defiance to the law that day became known to the world.
33. Parks became an African American civil rights activist. Her refusal to give up her seat to the white man was one of the main sparks of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1943, Parks became a member of the NAACP with her husband. Parks became known as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa and her husband lost their jobs for participating in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and they ended up moving to Detroit, Michigan, taking Rosa’s mother with them. In Michigan, Parks came to be a member of the staff of Michigan Congress man John Conyers Jr. (American Women’s History).