Volume 5, No. 1 (Winter 2002) -- Women's History Month Issue

Vol. 5, no. 1 (Winter 2002): | Women Who Made a Difference: Rosa Parks | A Personal Perspective | Women Who Made a Difference As Leaders Of Their Nations | Using the Internet | Book Nook | Teacher Talk | Madeleine Albright & Barbara Jordan |

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On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old African American seamstress engaged in a simple act of civil disobedience that launched a pivotal event in the civil rights movement. The quiet courageous act of Rosa Parks changed the country and redirected the course of history.

On her way home from work, Rosa was asked to move to another row on the bus and give her seat to a white man. She said she would have given up her seat to child or elderly person, but when others in the row moved, Rosa did not.

"All I felt was tired," Parks recalls in her 1995 book, Quiet Strength. "Tired of being pushed around. Tired of seeing the bad treatment and disrespect of children, women and men just because of the color of their skin."

"No," she said, in spite of a state law saying that you had to move when the driver told you to,"I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents and how strong they were ... I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me ..."

When told that the bus driver would have her arrested, she said, "You may do that." The police were called and she was driven to jail, fingerprinted and put in a cell. A white woman integrationist joined the president of the Montgomery NAACP chapter, where she served as secretary, to pay her $100 bail. Despite her husband's fear that she would be killed, Rosa agreed to an attempt to break down segregation with her case.

Four days later she was found guilty of disorderly conduct and the Montgomery bus boycott began. Black cab companies joined 150 vehicles, including station wagons financed by supporters from around the country, transporting 40,000 people every day at 32 pickup sites, almost around the clock. Black people used these alternatives or just walked to work. Because 70 percent of the people riding busses were African American, the bus company lost money.

The 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott ended when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in November of 1956 that segregation of bus service was unconstitutional. The city was served with papers and the next day Rosa boarded a bus, and for the first time was allowed to sit in any unoccupied seat.

But she had lost her seamstress job and was unable to find work. Her family was harassed and threatened. In 1957, she moved along with her mother and husband to Detroit where her brother Sylvester lived.

Rosa Louise was born Feb. 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, to James and Leona McCauley. They moved to live with her maternal grandparents when Rosa was two. Her mother, a school teacher, taught Rosa at home until she was 11. Then Rosa moved to Montgomery to live with her aunt. She enrolled in a private school, the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, where she cleaned classrooms to pay her tuition. Later she attended Booker T. Washington High School but had to leave to take care of her sick mother and do the cleaning, cooking and shopping for the family.

When Rosa was 20, she married Raymond Parks. Raymond was self-taught and supported his wife’s desire to return to school in 1934 to earn her high school diploma.

Parks took a job as a seamstress at a Montgomery department store and became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She also joined the Voters League and helped African American citizens pass tests that had been set up to make it difficult for them to vote. Prior to her arrest, Parks had tried to vote several times when it was nearly impossible and had experienced run-ins with other bus drivers.

"I didn’t want to pay my fare and then go around to the back door, because many times, even if you did that, you might not get on the bus at all," said Parks.

In 1965 she joined the staff of U.S. Representative John Conyers of Michigan and worked there until her retirement in 1988. Parks has traveled the country extensively, lecturing on civil rights. She has actively fought racial injustice, standing up for what she believes in and sharing her message with others.

Through the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, a nonprofit organization she co-founded with Elaine Steele in 1987, she works with young people to help them achieve their full potential. The institute has a program called Pathways to Freedom for children ages 11-18. The children travel across the country tracing the Underground Railroad and visiting the scenes of critical events in the civil rights movement. "Mrs. Parks is a role model that these students look up to, and they feel very honored and privileged to be in her company. And she’s very gracious to accompany the students to these activities," said Steele.

Rosa Parks has been called "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" for her role in the long struggle against segregation. In April 1998, she attended the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Troy State University Montgomery Rosa Parks Library and Museum located on the spot she was arrested more than 40 years ago.

"We still have a long way to go in improving the race relations in this country ... We don’t have enough young people who are concerned and who are exposed to the civil rights movement," said Parks, "and I would like to see more exposure and get their interest, but I think it should just be history, period, and not thinking in terms of only Black History Month." She is firm in her belief that enough people will have the courage and dedication to make the country better than it is.

"Four decades later I am still uncomfortable with the credit given to me for starting the bus boycott," Parks wrote in her book, Quiet Strength." I would like people to know I was not the only person involved. I was just one of many who fought for freedom."

In 1994, Parks was attacked outside of her home by a man who wanted money from her. "I pray for this young man and the conditions in our country that have made him this way," she later wrote. Despite the violence and crime in our society, we should not let fear overwhelm us. We must remain strong."

Image 1: Rosa Parks saw her decision not to give up her seat ont he bus as an opportunity being given her. (Photo provided by the Rosa Parks Museum.)

Image 2: Rosa Parks with participants of Pathways to Freedom at the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute in Montgomery. (Photo provided by the Rosa Parks Museum.)

The Brown Foundation is pleased to publish this newsletter for classroom teachers through which we will share resources available from national parks and museums. Established to maintain the legacy of the Brown decision, our organization plays an exciting role as a park partner. In 1990 we were instrumental in developing Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas. We hope you enjoy the Brown Quarterly and we eagerly anticipate your comments.

Executive Director: Cheryl Brown Henderson

Program Associate: Linda Brown Thompson

Editor/Design: Grace L. Wilson gracewilsoneditor [at] cox.net

Mailing Support: Chelsey Smith