Introduction

Rosa Parks was one of the African Americans who changed history. A lot of people know Parks for standing up against racial segregation.  She changed history by refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man. A lot of people say Rosa Parks was too tired to move, but she actually wasn’t tired from work just tired of moving for the whites.  She also didn’t get up because she wasn’t in the whites section. Rosa was arrested and convicted of civil disobedience. During her years of life African American people was segregated from the white people and if a white person told them to do some they had to do it. Her childhood in Montgomery helped her develop strong roots and her childhood was also greatly influenced by Jim Crow. Rosa spent most of her life fighting for desegregation and was active in the Civil Rights movement. No matter what city Parks lived in, she found a way to stay involved in the community and always seemed to have a way to voice her thoughts and feelings about society. She has been given numerous awards for her help in forging positive change in a time.  ”I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”  (Rosa Parks Facts) Rosa Parks was over the Youth Division at the Montgomery NAACP branch for years. Rosa Parks is an interesting person because she has an exciting childhood and she changed life for African Americans.

Childhood, 1913-1930

Rosa Park’s maiden name is Rosa Louise McCauley. She was born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama.  She was the oldest of her mother three children. Her father, James McCauley, was a carpenter by trade and her mother, Leona Edwards, was a school teacher. Parks did not graduate from high school till she was 20 because she had to care for her sick grandma then later her sick mother. Mrs. McCauley had a feeling when her daughter was born that she was going to be a civil rights leader and change the nation. Mrs. McCauley hated how the world was segregated and she believed in freedom and she wanted Rosa to be treated right. She did not think any person should treat her daughter like she was a bad person. Rosa didn’t attend public school until she was eleven, but her mom home schooled her. When Rosa was eleven she went to Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery. She began laboratory school for her secondary education, but she had to drop out. August 13, 1930 Rosa had to drop out of school to take care of her family and her daddy has also returned home from being away for three years. Her daddy has been gone for years because he builds houses around the Alabama to make money for their family. On December 15, 1929 Rosa wrote in her journal “I have truly fallen in love with Raymond Parks. I think he’s going to propose to me for Christmas!” (Clare)

Childhood, 1931-1955

On December 18, 1932 Rosa Parks married Raymond Parks, Montgomery barber, in a small ceremony performed at her mother’s home. They had their honeymoon in Arizona for five days.  Her husband encouraged her to finish high school and get her diploma; she graduated in 1933. She later worked as a seamstress.  After three tries Rosa was able to register to vote. Rosa helped her husband raise money for the defense of the Scottsboro Boys. After doing that Rosa became a member of the Montgomery chapter of NAACP and was their secretary. That job lasted for thirteen years then Rosa took a job working on the Maxwell Air Force Base. While working for Maxwell Rosa was treated equal and it was a turning point in her attitude towards civil rights. Rosa didn’t intend on being arrested when she got on the bus and she would have paid attention to who the bus driver was she wouldn’t have ever road it. She had sat on the back of the bus behind the white people section. So the bus was crowded and a white man got on the bus an all the other black people moved except Rosa. She said to herself “I am not going to move today even if the bus driver tells me to; I’m tired of white people getting to tell me what to do just because I’m different color than them.” (Clare)  The bus driver told her to move to the back or he was going to call the cops, so when she didn’t move he called the cops like he said. So Rosa got arrested and convicted with violating the law of segregation.

Childhood, 1956-2004

Rosa Parks spent one night in jail for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man on December 1, 1955. She paid a fine of ten dollars plus four dollars in court costs when she was found guilty of violating Montgomery's segregated busing ordinance. Rosa didn’t know who bailed her out, but she knew whoever that did bail her out agreed with her in what she did. E. D Nixon and white supporters Clifford and Virginia Dur bailed Rosa out because he knew she was the ideal candidate to challenge the discriminatory seating policy. So Nixon asked Parks if she would be willing to make her incident a test case against segregation and she said agreed to it after speaking with her husband and mother. Rosa co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in Detroit on January 1, 1987 with Ms. Elaine Eason Steele in honor of her husband. The Institute purpose is to motivate and direct youth not targeted by other programs to achieve their highest potential. The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development’s “Pathways to Freedom program traces the underground railroad into civil rights movement and beyond. On Rosa’s 91^st birthday she thought about how she and Martin Luther King Jr. made the land free just as it always supposed to have been. They both made a big difference in the U.S and a lot of people lives. The difference they made was very difficult, but they did it anyways to prove to people that it doesn’t matter what color their skin is we are all equal.

Childhood, Reflection

Rosa Parks’ childhood and life have affected me and my life a lot.  If it wasn’t for Rosa not getting up from here seat I believe society would still be segregated. Some of our society still has racist people and they should be put in jail. Then I have to remember they have the right to believe whatever they want to, but those people are sick to me.  Rosa was a brave woman to not give up her seat and then get arrested.  The bus driver know he was wrong for getting Rosa arrested I don’t care if it was the law, that white man could have sat somewhere else. Having segregated buses was stupid well having segregated anything was stupid. Now society is happy to have blacks, whites, or any race to come together because we are changing the world and making it better.  Back then life was miserable and not right and I don’t think I could have lived during that time.

Segregation, Causes

The Jim Crow Laws segregated blacks from whites in almost everything in their daily lives. They segregated public restrooms, drinking fountains, education, and transportation. White children were able to ride the bus to school while the black children had to walk all the way to another school. Black people could ride public transportation as long as they were seated in the back away from the whites.  The Jim Crow Laws was created by white members of the Democratic Party between 1876 and 1965 so they could control political power in the Southern states.  The Republican Party was against slavery and segregation so they fought and won the fight against blacks not having the right to vote. President Rutherford B. Haynes ended Reconstruction and left the race issues with Southern Democrats. The Democratic Party was called “party of civil rights” which was wrong because they didn’t try and help the black people then the Republican Party was called the “racist party” which was wrong because they where the party that was strong advocates for the blacks.  Rosa Parks was an African American who refused the give up her seat for a white man and she was arrested for it. With her doing that she violated the city’s racial segregation ordinances and also started the U.S. civil rights movement. Segregation began because people are different on the outside, but they failed to know everybody is the same on the inside. Just because we look different on the outside doesn’t mean we don’t mean we think different, organs are different, or blood is different because they are not.

Segregation, Effects

Being segregated was very awful and wrong, and then it was a law to be segregated. The blacks could not use the same thing as whites except for public transportation, and when they used that the blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. Black people where restricted from certain areas and institutions during segregation such as; schools, churches, etc. and facilities such as; parks, playgrounds, restaurants, and restrooms. Blacks had to eat in different sections in restaurant, couldn't vote unless African Americans pay poll taxes, had to seat in the back of the bus and if there were not enough seats for whites a black had to give their seat up. If the people were white, not much happened to them when they broke the law. If they were black, they were formally charged, arrested and punished with the full severity of the law. Informally, black men were also beaten and murdered before and after the law had taken its course. Being in jail, so far from being kept safe, was especially dangerous for black men, as it was a convenient place for lynch mobs to get at them. Some were lifted by the Supreme Court in 1965. Being an African American in those times was hard and unjustice. They should not have segregated blacks from whites because they are the same. They was acting like some was wrong with blacks and they did not want it on them or in them.  Seeing people act like is stupid because there is not anything wrong with us blacks.

Segregation, Fighting Against

In the Beginning of 1909 a small group of leaders founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Their goal was to eliminate racial discrimination and segregation from American life.  Their only two victories before the Supreme Court in 1950 led to a direct assault on Plessey and the “separate-but-equal’ doctrine. A boycott of the municipal bus company began on December 5 under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and black people of Montgomery and other races. This began after Rosa Parks got arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man, so King made the boycott to end racial segregation.  Dr. King was selected as the spokesperson for the Bus Boycott and he taught all the people who participated in the Boycott about nonviolence. When people found out about the Boycott in Montgomery they started helping by forming sit-ins, swim-ins, and things like that to end racial segregation. Thousands of people joined the group to protest for equal rights. Black people organized their own vehicles to transport people to work. With all this happening it was called the Civil Rights Movement because it was trying to break the pattern of racial segregation  and it lasted in the 1950’s and 60’s. The movement caused the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to happen. This act was a strong provision against discrimination and segregation in voting, education, and the use of public facilities. There were a lot of people who was affected and made a difference in life.

Segregation, Reflection

I do not like Segregation because it was not the right way to live. When you’re living your life you should not have to be separated from other people just like you. Segregation has not affected me, but I got family that has been affected by it. I hate how they treated blacks because it was cruel and low down. Should not anyone be treated like that because we are all the same no matter what color our hair, skin, or whatever it is.  The people who went through that were very strong and I really do not think I could have done it because I know how I love having white friends along with any other race. Doing segregation as a category it really made me think. I have learned a lot about the past and how people got treated and it make me love the way I am living now.

Legacy

"I think that she, as the mother of the new civil rights movement, has left an impact not just on the nation, but on the world," U.S. Rep. John Conyers.Because of Rosa Parks and her refusing to get out her seat she has changed history. She was a real apostle of the nonviolence movement. What most people do not know about Rosa Parks is that she was a trained civil rights worker who knew the significance of staying in her front seat and not giving it up to a white man. The new Children’s Wing tells youngsters that things just don’t happen in history, people make things happen. People come to realize that they can make a difference just as Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, Joanne Robinson, Fred Gray, Claudette Colvin, Georgia Gilmore and many others made a difference following in the footsteps of Dred Scott, Harriet Tubman, Homer Plessey and others who had gone before. The contemporary struggles for justice can learn from the ways the civil rights movement overcame a media boycott and moved hitherto immovable forces. One must believe there is always a way to produce the human spark for a broader public morality and a deeper commitment to a more just society. The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement died October 24, 2005. Her dignified defiance in the face of segregation helped America and the world understand the power of nonviolent protest to create a more just society. Rosa Parks’ legacy that she left behind was equal rights between people.

Legacy, Awards 1

In 1979, the NAACP awarded Rosa Parks the Spingarn Medal, their highest honor

In 1980, the NAACP awarded Rosa Parks the Martin Luther King Jr. Award

In 1983, Rosa Parks was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame

In 1990, Rosa Parks had the honor of being part of the welcoming party for Nelson Mandela, who had been recently imprisoned in South Africa

In September of 1992, Rosa Parks was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award for her years of community service and lifelong commitment to social change through non-violent means and civil rights

Rosa Parks: My Story was written and published in 1992 by Rosa Parks herself. The book told the story of Rosa's life leading up to the day she got on that bus and decided that she was not giving up her seat. Rosa later published another book called Quiet Strength, which described her faith and how it helped her on her journey through life

In 1996, Rosa Parks was presented, by President Bill Clinton, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a civilian by the United States Government.

In 1998, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center presented Rosa Parks with the International Freedom Conductor Award.

In 1999, Rosa Parks was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal.

In 1999, Rosa Parks was awarded the Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival Freedom Award.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Rosa Parks as one of the 20 most powerful and influential figures of the century.

Legacy, Awards 2

During her lifetime, Rosa Parks was awarded more than two dozen honorary doctorates from universities worldwide. She was also inducted as an honorary member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Rosa Parks, along with Elaine Eason Steel, started the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February of 1987. The Institute was developed in honor of Rosa's husband, Raymond Parks who had died in 1977 of cancer. The Institute's main function is to run the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours, which take young people around the country to visit historical sites along the Underground Railroad and to important locations of events in Civil Rights history. Three days after Rosa’s death in October of 2005, The House of Representative and the United States Senate approved a resolution to allow Rosa Parks' body to be viewed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Rosa was the first woman and the second black person to ever have the honor of lying in state in the Nation’s capitol. On the first anniversary of her death, President George W. Bush ordered a statue of Parks to be placed in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. When signing this resolution, President Bush stated “By placing her statue in the heart of the nation's Capitol, we commemorate her work for a more perfect union, and we commit ourselves to continue to struggle for justice for every American."(Rosa Parks Facts) Rosa was a great accomplisher and she received a lot of awards and she should be very grateful on how she changed society.

Legacy, Reflection

Rosa Parks’ legacy is a great thing and she has changed lives. I am so glad her legacy that she left behind was equal rights between people because I hate being treated different from others. Being treated different from other people is sad and it makes you think you not as good as the others. People should always consider their self as equal to other people because you cannot find anything different between yourself and somebody else except your personality and skin color. I actually can relate to this topic because at my school we actually still have racist teachers and they treat us blacks different the white students and we see them as unfair. Should not anybody be judged on the way they look, dress, walk, or anything because the person who trying to judge probably have problems of their own for them to want to judge someone else.

Conclusion

On December 1, 1955, seamstress Rosa Parks changed America forever when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white patron on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus. She was found guilty of disorderly conduct, which lead directly to the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. Civil Right Leader, Rosa Parks, was a person who was above reproach, and people could not find fault with her character. With Rosa Getting arrested for not moving for the white man she started a boycott and the leader was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There was a lot of violence and bombings. Martin Luther King rose as a leader during this time and his house was bombed. Black churches were destroyed. On November 13, 1956 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unlawful, and the city of Montgomery, Alabama had no right to impose it on people riding their buses. The next month the signs on the bus seats designating white and colored sections were removed. The boycott was over. Rosa Parks passed away on October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. Her casket was placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol for two days. This is an honor usually only reserved for Presidents when they die. People waited in line for pay their respects. Today people of all color can sit wherever they wish on buses throughout the nation due to the courage and determination of one woman, Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is a hero to me and I admire her a lot.

Work Cited

Boyd, Herb, New York Amsterdam News. "Rosa Parks 1913-2005." Rosa Parks 1913-2005 27 October 2005.

Clare. "Rosa Parks." Rosa Parks (2003).

Lemieux, Jamilah. "Rosa Parks' Archives Reveal Possible Rape Attempt." 1 August 2011.

Parks, Rosa. Standing UP For Freedom 2 June 1995.

Rosa and Raymond Parks Insititute. 2012. Medialiq Multimedia COmpany. 26 March 2012 <rosaparks.org>.

"Rosa PArks." 26 March 2012. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 3 March 2012.

"Rosa Parks Facts." 1 June 2008. Rosa Parks Facts. 12 Arpil 2012. <rosaparksfacts.com>.