All You Have To Know About The Trailblazer Rosa Parks, The First Woman Civil Rights Activist
It began on a fateful night when fierce, opinionated, strong-willed Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. Her one-act inspired men and women of the black community in Alabama to unite and boycott Montgomery Bus. This resulted in Rosa Parks’ conviction under violation of Segregation Law. The boycott movement lasted for over a year under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. The movement saw its end with the US Supreme Court’s verdict that bus segregation was unconstitutional. This made Parks a symbol of strength and courage in the long-entrenched fight of ending racial segregation in the States.
Early Life of Rosa
Rosa Louise McCauley born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913, came from a humble background. She moved to Montgomery, Alabama, at age 11 with her mother. Her parents got separated after the birth of her brother in 1915. Since then, Rosa lived with her mother, and later with her husband Raymond Parks. She and Raymond worked as a seamstress and were respected members of Montgomery’s large African American community. Even though they lived among the white people governed by Jim Crow Segregation Law, they had to face multiple ordeals daily. For instance, people from the black community were allowed to drink from a certain pre-specified water fountain, inferior schools were reserved for black people, limited library access, and many such restrictions. People from the black community were allowed to drink from a certain pre-specified water fountain, inferior schools were reserved for black people, limited library access, and many such restrictions.
The Night of Arrest and Change
December 1, 1955, the 42-year-old Rosa Parks was commuting home after a long day at work by bus. As per the segregation law, the front rows of a Montgomery bus were reserved for white people and the rows at the back for the black people. However, it was a customary practice under which the drivers often ask black citizens to give up their seats for the white ones. On papers, there were two different versions: one said segregation must be enforced, while the other mentions no person (white or black) could be asked to give up a seat even if there were no other seats on the bus available.
On that day, the driver of the bus, James Blake, asked the black passengers to give up their seats for the white man who had no place to sit. Three passengers from the first row stood up to give space, while Rosa Parks held her ground, and refused to get up from her seat. This infuriated the driver, and he threatened to call the police. Rosa didn’t give in. She didn’t get up until the police came and took her to custody. Three black passengers stood up to give space to the white man when asked by the driver to do so, but Rosa Parks held her ground and didn’t give in. She wrote in her autobiography, “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Rosa’s resentment toward racial segregation brought a change in society. It first led to the scrapping of unfair and inhuman segregation law, and later made her the face of black strength and resistance. Rosa was now known as “the mother of the civil rights movement.”
In 1999, Rosa was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honour the United States bestows on a civilian. In 2005, when Rosa died at age 92, she became the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Feature image: Paul Sancya / Associated Press
