Rosa Parks
Mikala Slaughter 6th
Brief Background
Rosa Parks, born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger. This led to the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation. The issued that occurred in Montgomery, Alabama helped launch the citywide boycott to end segregation across the nation. Rosa Parks was one of the first to stand against the government on December 1, 1955.
Rosa Parks won''t move anymore
She wasn't tired from work, she was tired of giving in. She didn't want to have to move, she wanted to be treated as equals.
The arrest of Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat for a white passenger on a bus.
Her arrest led to so much more
Her arrest sparked a 381 day boycott of the Montgomery bus system, which led to the Supreme Court banning color segregation on public transportation. This, in turn, led to the Civil rights movement in the 1960's.
Rosa Parks and the Mongomery bus boycott
Rosa Parks and Civil Disobedience
Rosa Parks represents ideas found in Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" because they both think it is time for the people to start having a say in what happens in the world. Thoreau says "But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect and that will be one step toward obtaining it" (Thoreau 3). Thoreau is saying that instead of the government deciding what is right and wrong in the world, people who are doing the right thing should have a say in what is going on. Rosa Parks was tired of following the orders of the government, she didn't believe in what the government was deciding for the world. On December 1, 1955 she was going to make history and change the way the government and the world looked at African Americans. Thoreau says "the indespensablest mode... of expressing your little satisfaction with and love for it, is to deny it then" (Thoreau 9). He is saying to stand up and start going against the government; the people in the world are only listening to what the government is saying because that's all they know to do. The people only know to listen to the government and everyone else is wrong in their thinking. Rosa Parks and Thoreau were both tired of listening to the government and tired of giving in. They were going to stand up to them and change the world.