Inside this bus on December 1, , Rosa Parks, a soft-spoken African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man, breaking existing segregation laws. The flawless character and quiet strength she exhibited successfully ignited action in others. For this, many believe Rosa Parks' act was the event that sparked the Civil Rights movement. General Motors Corporation. United States, Michigan, Pontiac. United States, Alabama, Montgomery.
United States, Indiana, Terre Haute. African Americans. Civil rights movements. Public transit Infrastructure. Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Ala. Parks, Rosa, Montgomery City Lines, Inc. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford. She was not the first African American to do this. In fact, two other black women had previously been arrested on buses in Montgomery and were considered by civil rights advocates as potential touchpoints for challenging the law.
However, both women were rejected because community leaders felt they would not gain support. Rosa Parks, with her flawless character, quiet strength, and moral fortitude, was seen as an ideal candidate. The boycott ultimately led the U. Supreme Court to outlaw racial segregation on public buses in Alabama. It also spurred more non-violent protests in other cities and catapulted a young Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. The movement and the laws it prompted, including the Civil Rights Act of and the Voting Rights Act of , are one of the greatest social revolutions in modern American history.
Capitol, where she is honored alongside past presidents, members of Congress, and military leaders. When the U. If we travel back in time to the December evening in when Rosa Parks boarded that city bus, we can begin to glimpse just why her courage was so extraordinary. We know from her account of the event that she made her defiant decision in an instant.
It took tremendous courage. But it took even more courage for her to stand by her decision in the minutes, days, and years that followed. To understand why, board bus No. That very bus, painstakingly restored , is now parked inside Henry Ford Museum, and open to everyone. See the overhead light shining down on the green-cushioned seat in the middle? Settle yourself here, just as Rosa Parks did. We know from many accounts that Rosa Parks recognized the bus driver—he had humiliated her and other black riders over the years.
She also knew that this man, who threatened to have her arrested, carried a pistol in his holster. She was aware of recent racial atrocities, including the mistreatment of another black woman, Claudette Colvin, for not giving up her seat, and the death earlier that summer of year-old Emmett Till from a lynching. As one of her biographers, Douglas Brinkley , observed, Rosa Parks in that moment felt fearless, bold, and serene. Three other black riders sat in the same row, one next to Rosa Parks, the other two across the aisle.
When the bus driver again demanded that all four passengers give up their seats, the three other riders reluctantly got up. All the black riders were now at the back, all the whites at the front. Rosa Parks sat between them, a brave solitary figure marking the painful boundary between races. I could be manhandled or beaten. I could be arrested. On Thursday, December 1, , the year-old Rosa Parks was commuting home from a long day of work at the Montgomery Fair department store by bus.
Black residents of Montgomery often avoided municipal buses if possible because they found the Negroes-in-back policy so demeaning. Nonetheless, 70 percent or more riders on a typical day were Black, and on this day Rosa Parks was one of them.
Segregation was written into law; the front of a Montgomery bus was reserved for white citizens, and the seats behind them for Black citizens. However, it was only by custom that bus drivers had the authority to ask a Black person to give up a seat for a white rider. There were contradictory Montgomery laws on the books: One said segregation must be enforced, but another, largely ignored, said no person white or Black could be asked to give up a seat even if there were no other seat on the bus available.
The three others obeyed. Parks did not. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. Eventually, two police officers approached the stopped bus, assessed the situation and placed Parks in custody.
Although Parks used her one phone call to contact her husband, word of her arrest had spread quickly and E. Nixon was there when Parks was released on bail later that evening. 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.
By midnight, 35, flyers were being mimeographed to be sent home with Black schoolchildren, informing their parents of the planned boycott. She and her family moved to Detroit, Michigan in Back Next. Called "the mother of the civil rights movement," Rosa Parks invigorated the struggle for racial equality when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. The purpose is to motivate and direct youth not targeted by other programs to achieve their highest potential.
Rosa Parks sees the energy of young people as a real force for change. It is among her most treasured themes of human priorities as she speaks to young people of all ages at schools, colleges, and national organizations around the world. Youth, ages 11 through 17, meet and talk with Mrs. Parks and other national leaders as they participate in educational and historical research throughout the world.
Where are we going? As a role model for youth she was stimulated by their enthusiasm to learn as much about her life as possible. A modest person, she always encourages them to research the lives of other contributors to world peace. In September President William J. Published Act no. She is the first living person to be honored with a holiday. She was voted by Time Magazine as one of the most Influential people of the 20th century. A Museum and Library is being built in her honor, in Montgomery, AL and will open in the fall of the year ground breaking April 21, On September 2, The Rosa L.
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