Rosa Parks
she boarded a bus and took a remarkable journey
Background
Rosa Parks was born as Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was born on February 4th, 1913, and two years later her brother Sylvester McCauley was born. Her father James was a carpenter and her mother Leona was a schoolteacher. Although she and her brother were born in Tuskegee, they were raised for the most of their childhood in Pine Level, Alabama where they moved to in 1917, when their father left the family. They then lived with their mother and grandparents. Rosa’s education mainly came from home, but she also attended a rural school in Pine Level. In 1924, Rosa was enrolled in an all-girls private institution for which she attended for four years, but for nineth grade, she went to a public high school. After her Grandmother became very ill and died, she dropped out and spent 10th and 11th grade school at the Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes.
After finishing school, she married Raymond Parks, a barber, when she was nineteen on December 18, 1932 and became Mrs Rosa Parks. In 1943, Rosa became the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
Rosa Parks being fingerprinted.
The famous activist.
Mrs Rosa Parks
Causes & Methods
The main cause of Rosa Parks’ story came from December 1st, 1955. After Rosa’s shift at a department store, she went to take the bus home. The problems didn’t arise in payment, she paid her fare honestly and sat down. It was when she was asked by the driver to stand up so that no whites had to stand, and she said no. This was the law, for her to stand for the whites, but she refused. She was kicked off the bus and arrested, jailed (although bailed) and fined $14. Four days later, she has a trial and is found guilty of breaking segregation laws, which made her lose her job as a seamstress for Montgomery Fair the following January. Also on December 5th, Martin Luther King Jr. became the president of the MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association). Thus, beginning the Montgomery bus boycott which would last 381 days.
Rosa Parks was fighting for freedom between the laws of black and white segregation. She was fighting for this because she, along with many other people agreed that there should be no laws set against people for the colour of their skin.
The methods that Rosa Parks used during her arrest and the Montgomery bus boycott were those of non-violence and solidtary. She, along with Martin Luther King Jr. made a lot of speeches, trying to persuade the public that the illegal segregation movement put in place was complete not right. This took a long time, like I mentioned as the Montgomery bus boycott lasted 381 days. She was silently protesting, for example, she would walk flights of stairs to reach a floor level, in stead of taking an elevator marked 'Blacks only.' And in 1967, Rosa and Raymond moved to Detroit. In Detroit, they still urged on the civil rights causes, trying to fight the injustice of segregation.
My Judgement
Hearing about the story of December 1st, 1955, sounds all so silly to me, because in this day and age, such a thing as blacks having to move for whites on a bus sound ridiculous, and that it would never happen in our society. I think this is purely because of Rosa Park's protest to fight for freedom. I have never seen as a bus or a bathroom, or even an elevator that says 'White people only' and if Rosa Park's actions, and the actions of the rest of the participants of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and of the many other protests Rosa Parks took part in, did not happen, then I probably would see signs like those I stated above.
I do not think there is much I would have done differently. Rosa Parks made such an overwhelming difference to the world without the need of violence. The impacts she made on the world are truly amazing.