Rosa Parks
Rebekah Norris - Laffin's 1st Period
Who is Rosa Parks and What Did She Do?
In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white man. She was accused of violating the Jim Crow laws which enforced segregation. Rosa Parks was not violent with her actions; however, she did break the Jim Crow law by refusing to move to the back of the bus with the rest of the African Americans. Because of her civil disobedience she began the Civil Rights Movement.
Rosa Parks
African American civil rights activist.
Born February 4th, 1913 and Died on October 24th, 2003.
The Bus
Rosa Parks refuses to move to the back of the bus and allow a white man to take away the rights that she should have.
The Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King Jr teaming up with Rosa Parks in during the movement.
Rosa Parks Legacy
Rosa Parks in Comparison to Thoreau's Key Points
Thoreau stresses throughout his writing that the one thing we must respect more than the law is our conscience. Rosa Parks shows through her actions on the bus that her morals were more important than the Jim Crow laws. Because of her actions, Rosa Parks proves to fight for what it right. Both Rosa Parks and Henry Thoreau both seem to be asking the same question of, "Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?" (Civil Disobedience 1). Thoreau's situation was extremely different from Rosa Parks's, but just like Parks, he stood up against the government and the laws that did not sit well in his spirit. For six years, Thoreau did not pay his taxes (Civil Disobedience 4). He refused to pay just as Rosa Parks had refused to move because he felt as if the government was enslaving humankind.