Rosa Parks – the Rebellion
What would you do if someone told you that you are not good enough because of the color of your skin? Would you be upset and humble or chose another way and would fight for your rights and place in our wonderful world? I would rather choose the second direction, because according to the history, there are powerful people who can change their life in the best possible way.
My inspirational person who made an outstanding contribution to history is Rosa Parks. She became an icon for great changes in the black community. As for me, this woman is an example to be imitated, the role model for modern generation. Seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man in a segregated city bus on a Montgomery and changed American civil rights history. The act of rebellion provoked the beginning of the bus boycott and movements for repealing of segregation.
She was born at 1913 and growing up when after the ending of Civil War in South America Jim Crow laws of racial separation infringed upon black people’s rights. Those laws separated black people from whites in schools, jobs and public gathering places (“White Only: Jim Crow”). Rosa worked as seamstress due to she did not have a high-school diploma. In 1932, she married to Raymond Parks who was a member of National Association for the Advancement of color people (NAACP) and a member of Montgomery’s African-American community. He encouraged her to get the high-school degree and join the Montgomery chapter of NAACP. Rosa became chapter secretary and registered to vote, which was one of the most unattainable goals for black people in 1943 (“Rosa Parks”). She had been fighting wholeheartedly for two decades against issues of segregation. In 1955, she made her biggest act of rebellion.
According to Montgomery, Alabama, city ordinance, African Americans had to sit in the back half of city buses and to give their seats to white passengers if the half of the bus, reserved for white drivers, was full (“Montgomery bus boycott”). Rosa Parks was returning home from job on the bus on December 1, 1955. The driver asked Rosa and three other passengers to give up their seats, after the seats in a “white section” filled. Rosa Parks was the only one who refused to execute the driver’s request. Describing the motivation of her decision, she said, “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, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move. Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.” (“Rosa Parks: The power of women”). Rosa Park’s goal was a better life for her community. She sought to rank black people among the white citizens.
After her brave deed, the policemen arrested her and she had to pay a fine and lost her job. However, Rosa refused to surrender. Leaders of black communities and human rights organizations decided that Parks is an ideal candidate for changing the course of black people history. They supposed that she was able to receive a collective support from African American community due to her inner strength and incredible courage. When Parker’s case was supposed to be considered in municipal court, had started large-scale agitation for the boycott of public buses. Members of the Women’s Political Council distributed over 35 000 copies of a flyer announcing a boycott of the buses. They spread it through churches and newspapers and coordinated over 40,000 people in only 2 days. (“Rosa Parks: The power of women”). It was a great occurrence. People walked or took taxis with black drivers who support the boycott and asked only 10 cent as a fare. That day, black community had to know sir Martin Luther King Jr., who was 26 years old pastor of Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Leaders selected him as the president of Montgomery Improvement Association.
The boycott lasted 381 days. It was the first large scale demonstration in order to stop segregation actions in the country. Its effect was significant. In 1956, a Montgomery federal court decided that any law requiring racially segregated seating on buses infringe the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (“Montgomery bus boycott”). Rosa Parks’ rebellion act led the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw racial segregation on public buses. It also stimulated non-violent protests in other cities, which was one of the greatest social effects of revolution in modern American history.
Rosa Parks sought to freedom. She fought for it for herself and for her nation. She believed that everyone in the world deserved to have right to choose the bus, to vote and to feel themselves protected. Her image has become a symbol of quiet but persistent human dignity before the face of the omnipotent and unjust power.
Work Cited
“Montgomery bus boycott”. History. History.com Staff, 2010. Web. 11 June 2016.
<http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott>
“Rosa Parks”. History. History.com Staff, 2009. Web. 11 June 2016.
<http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks>
“Rosa Parks: The power of women standing up for what they believe in”. Student Affairs Women Talk Tech. 2012. Web. 11 June 2016.
<http://www.sawomentalktech.com/blog/2012/03/01/rosa-parks-the-power-of-women-standing-up-for-what-they-believe-in/>
“White Only: Jim Crow in America”. Separate is not equal. Smithsonian national museum of American history. Web. 11 June 2016.
<http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/white-only-1.html>
