It All Started On A Bus

Rosa Parks once said that “she wanted to be known as a person who wanted to be free, so other people would also be free.” She also said to “Never be afraid if you know what you are doing is right”. Rosa Parks said so many inspirational things in life that made other people want to be like her, so she was a spectacular leader that tried to do things that were right. God made Rosa Parks for a specific purpose and that was to be a leader and to show people what is right and what is wrong and that you have to take some risks in life if you want to succeed and that is exactly what Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, I was on a Montgomery bus and all was calm. I then proceeded to sit by my friend Rosa Parks. We were just having a nice conversation when the driver told us we had to get up,stand, or get off of the bus. I got up and stood in the very back and looked and Rosa wasn’t with me. She was still sitting in her seat. A little later I heard some yelling and in the blink of an eye, Rosa was off of the bus and the police were arresting her. The last thing I ever heard from her was when the bus driver told her he was going to call the police, she said,

Rosa Parks - Rosa Parks is considered the mother of Civil Rights Movement. She had been a member of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) before she became a huge issue throughout the nation in the 1950s. On Dec. 1, 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white man who asked her to get up for him. Parks was tired that day and did not feel like giving up her seat. She was arrested for disobeying orders to go to the back of the bus. This caused the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After a year, the Supreme Court supported the court order to integrate the buses in Montgomery. This also sparked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s.

Throughout the African American civil rights movement opportunities were sought to spark a chance at improving conditions in the south. Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the Montgomery, Alabama bus was the fire to that spark. Rosa, standing up for herself something anyone person in today’s world would do, was arrested and put in jail. While Rosa was in jail she caught the eye of many people in the Civil Rights Movement, including the leaders. The Civil Rights leaders protested her arrest and hired lawyers to aid her in her trial. Although she was found guilty and was fined fourteen dollars for the cost of the court case, which lasted on thirty minutes, she wasn’t done yet. Rosa Parks has affected the society we live in today in

The whites quickly pilled on the bus and all the blacks pilled in the back.. Ms. Parks on the other hand didn't move. Quickly the driver threatened to arrest her. As the driver began to get angry Rosa calmly with all the confidence in the world just sat. Rosa Parks got arrested that day for every black in the nation. She wanted to prove to all people that she would be treated as anyone else in the community.

The evening of December 1, 1955, one single woman changed the lives of many people and the way that they would continue to live. Rosa Parks exhibited one woman's courage and strength to stand up for what she believed in. Mrs. Parks's decision to remain seated and go against the "Believed way" sparked the beginning of the American Civil Rights Movement. In this paper I will discuss Rosa Parks's background, her decision against standing up, and how she started the beginning of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Rosa Parks, also called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” was given the NAACP's Spingarn Medal and the Martin Luther King, Jr. nonviolent-peace prize. Rosa Parks was also awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Woman of Courage award in 1984. Rosa’s influence and impact on the society is one that can never be replaced. Rosa was not only the person who took that seat, but she has plenty of respect because of her personality as a strong willed woman. Where did all this began?

Rosa Parks was an important person towards the evolution of a civil rights movement. This occurred on December 1st, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. Even though in today’s society, this can be a show of a childish gesture. But, during the time of a civil movement; this had a significant impact on people of both races. African Americans now had a chance to speak up and follow the footsteps of Rosa Parks. This includes people such as the memorable Martin Luther King. However, the actions Rosa Parks committed had consequences. This would continue until the newer generations to come. In, “Rosa Parks Redux: Racial Mobility Projects on the Journey to Work”, it states the following statement. “Her refusal crystallized the insidious nature of segregation in the South and laid bare its brutal banality. Sixty years later, cities in the putatively post racial era continue to generate profound racial inequalities, and commuting continues to embody, reveal, and sometimes contest the twenty-first-century city as a generator of racial inequality.” Even after so much time, people still want change because equality is not wupon every

Rosa Parks was known for her unplanned act of defiance that lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 (Dudley 258). The attributes that she contributed to Civil Rights was her commitment to the cause, her positive attitude, and her ability to inspire others. Rosa Parks had got onto a public bus after a long day of work, and her feet were hurting, so she decided to sit in the white section. The white people complained and the bus driver told her if she did not get up, then she would be arrested. Nevertheless, with Rosa Park’s refusal to get up, it led to her arrest. Due to her commitment to the cause she stood up for racial equality, and though all of the turmoil she encountered she kept a positive attitude. Her ability to inspire others was remarkable, therefore it led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott was due to the fact that African Americans were exasperated due to the fact that they were not being treated equally. This then led to all African Americans walking to and from wherever they were

“Before the end of the school year, over 1500 black demonstrators were arrested.” (USHistory.org, 2016) Fortunately, their sacrifice brought results. The slow process of abandoning the restaurants’ policies of segregation began throughout the South. People in America could not handle with the segregation so many protests arose against it. One of the turning points in U.S. history on the way of desegregation was the Rosa Parks protest. It was well known that the condition of division black people from white people was unbearable. Mrs. Parks as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a person associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the South during the 1960s. Many years later she shared her thoughts: “Four decades later I am still uncomfortable with the credit given to me for starting the bus boycott. I would like (people) to know I was not the only person involved. I was just one of many who fought for freedom.”(C N Trueman "Rosa Parks”, May 19, 2018) On the first of December in 1955, she obeyed the bus driver James Blake's demand to give up her seat to a white passenger. Having refused to do that request resulted in her arrest and trials. Thus, the authorities woke the beast in the face of the society of black people. All this resulted in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the largest movement against racial segregation in history which gained a success. Due to her role in American history, Rosa Parks earned a status of leader in American culture. What is more, her actions influenced an overwhelming impact for civil rights movements in America and around the world. Her method was not violent. She used peaceful resistance for fighting for equality and resolution of oppression. She was sure that her action was not done on her own behalf but on the behalf of the whole black

“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in” (Parks). I was tired, tired of being oppressed, and tired of being stepped on by the law, and my fellow people. That was the only tired i felt. The Montgomery Bus protest sparked a fire that would be felt throughout the entire country, and it was the spark that ignited the fire of the civil rights movement that shook the world. The boycott was the first of it, once light was shown on the problem, she began travelling cross country spreading information about civil rights, and sparking more peaceful protest. Rosa Parks was an important figure that changed the direction of the United States of America. She was trying to get home from work that day, but she turned into an icon for the civil rights movement, and shined a light on the unfair treatment of african americans.

Before Rosa Park started the Bus Boycott. There was a young woman her name was Colvin Claudette. Colvin was student at Booker T. Washington High School. On March 2, 1955, she boarded a public bus and, shortly thereafter, refused to give up her seat to a white man. Colvin was coming home from school that day. At the same place Rosa boarded another month later. She was sitting two seats from the emergency exit. Until four white people boarded the bus , and the bus driver ordered her, along with three other black people. Colvin still did not move. She said, “ I was thinking about slavery fighters she had read about recently during Negro History Week in February.”

Rosa Parks was an independent woman from the start. Before she had refused to leave the Montgomery bus she was making these feats for her whole life. Just her refusing to get up from her bus seat sparked the flame that would put an end to segregation. “We came to see that, in the long run, it is more honorable to walk in dignity than to ride in humiliation. So…. we decided to substitute tired feet for tired souls, and walk the streets of Montgomery.”

The civil rights movement was a historical event triggered by African Americans standing up for equality between black and white people. Rosa Parks was one of the first people to trigger the boycott against a segregated bus company. Everything changed “On December 1, 1955, when Rosa Louise Parks, a prim, bespectacled, forty-two-year-old mulatto seamstress, made history by refusing to give up her seat on the Cleveland Avenue Bus to a white man” (Brinkley, Douglas. Rosa Parks, 2001, pp. 6). The bravery shown through this woman is inspiring others. Motivated individuals end up joining in the boycott. She let people know that African Americans will no longer tolerate the terrible ways they were constantly

Rosa Parks was the center of one of the greatest civil rights movements in the mid-20th-century. She became an icon due to her calm refusal to give up her seat to a white man, which triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott beginning in 1955 (Baggett, 2016). Rosa Parks acted with courage and stood up for what she believed in; paving the way for many American citizens to follow in her footsteps - or lack of footsteps. She stayed true to herself and inspired others to take similar courageous actions throughout the civil rights movement in America.