Severn Suzuki

Douglas argues that fifty years after Parks made history by refusing to give up her seat on a bus, Rosa Parks at last gets the biography she deserves. Douglas Brinkley follows this incredible woman from her childhood through her early involvement in the NAACP, “In 1949, She became advisor to the informal NAACP Youth group that grew into the organization's official youth council in 1953.” Her moment of courage during the bus boycott has made her both a beloved and resented image of the civil rights movement. Douglas talks about Parks as an American heroine and how she got through the tumultuous times of her life.

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.

Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were inspirational leaders that contributed greatly towards the civil rights movement. With racial discrimination surrounding King and Park, growing up as an African American made it hard and colored people were unfairly treated. Both King and Park knew the inequalities and sought education to aid themselves in their unfair life. Despite this, Park and King were brought up responsibly by their parents, King was an active civil rights activist, participating in the ‘Montgomery Bus Boycott’, ‘March on Washington’ and lead the ‘Selma to Montgomery march’. Rosa Parks was an influential figure contributing to the civil rights movement as she was the chosen ‘test case’ the NCAACP were looking for.

The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement Rosa Parks is one of the most famous people in the history of the American Civil Rights movement, for her refusal to “move to the back of the bus” on December 1, 1955. Although her moment of protest was not a planned event , it certainly proved to be a momentous one. The nature of Rosa Park’s protest, the response of the authorities of Montgomery, the tactics adopted by the civil rights leaders in Montgomery, and the role eventually played by Federal authority, were all aspects of this particular situation that were to be repeated again and again in the struggle for equality of race. Rosa Parks’ action, and the complex combination of events that followed, in some measure, foreshadowed a great deal of

On Thursday evening December 1, 1955, Rosa boards a Montgomery City Bus to go home after a long day working as a seamstress. She walks back to the section for blacks, and takes a seat. The law stated that they could sit there if no White people were standing. Rosa parks never liked segregation rules and has been fighting against them for more than ten years in the NAACP, but until then had never broke any of the unjust rules. As the bus stops at more places, more white people enter the bus, all the seats in the “White Only” section was filled and the bus driver orders Rosa’s row to move to the back of the bus, they all moved, accept Rosa. She was arrested and fined for violating a city regulation. This act of defiance began a movement that ended legal Segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom devoted people everywhere.

Rosa Louise Parks, an American Civil Rights activist, name “ the first lady of civil rights” , has shown perseverance throughout her entire life. She had a strong mind for civil rights and didn’t settle for being discriminated against for being an African American women. Rosa’s childhood was influenced by segregation she used separate bathrooms, water fountains, and more. One examples of Rosa showing perseverance is through all of the racism and being treated as if she was subhuman , she still stayed strong and fought for what she believed in. Another example of her showing perseverance is when being told she couldn’t sit in the back of the bus because she was black she stayed persistent and didn’t move or let that stop her fight. After being

Across cultures and throughout history, women have experienced ongoing systemic oppression; and they have responded with progressive movements of protest and creative alternatives. Harriet Tubman in the fight against slavery: Fannie Lou Hamer for voting rights: Ella Baker and Mary White Ovington in the civil rights movement: Rosa Luxemburg in the German socialist movement: Winnie Mandela in the anti-apartheid movement: Puerto Rican independence leader and poet Lolita Lebron: and American Indian movement activists Anna Mae Aquash, Ingrid Washinawatok, and Winona LaDuke (Mink and Navarro). Women have pioneered in movements for labor rights, prison reform, reproductive rights and health, education, affordable housing, affirmative action and equal rights, human rights, and environmental safety. These women’s leadership styles span a range from soft to harsh, from wielding individual, hierarchical power to possessing a commitment to collectivism, and from identifying as “woman as caretaker of life” to woman as requiring and utilizing equal power to man. There is no one characteristic that applies to all women as social change leaders (Hurtado).

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

In school, we have grown up learning that Rosa Parks was a sweet old lady who firmly stood (or in her case, sat) for what she believed in, but we don’t learn about her story before her bus riding days. In the book, At the End of the Dark Street, the author, Danielle L. McGuire, shows how Parks played a major role in the civil rights movement. She single handedly started the bus boycotts in 1955, which would eventually lead to a desegregated transit system.

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

That faced with inner conflict the individual has a choice between what is the best and the worst decision in that conflict. Encountering conflict is often portrayed with negative experience by humans, however it is through these experiences in which people discover inner strength that they never knew they possessed, both physically and mentally. Through the discovery of these traits, many people can overcome conflict and create workable solutions to difficult problems, or even make appropriate compromises. A monumental example of this was Rosa Parks “the mother of the freedom movement” , an African-American activist in the time of the black and white segregation, refused to give up her seat in the coloured section of the bus to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. This portray of inner strength sparked the movement of the abolishment of the segregation, empathising an individuals character is found in encountering conflict.

Rosa Parks is, apart from Martin Luther King Jr., arguably one of the most important figures of the civil rights movement. Her most notable protest is considered to be when she refused to change seats in a bus when a white man approached her and expected her to move due to the social norms of that time period. This led to a newsworthy story, and brought attention to the extreme discrimination that black people endured. Not only did Rosa Parks stand for black people's rights, she also stood for women's rights by standing up to the patriarchy and fighting against a white man. Her use of civil disobedience allowed her to effectively fight against the racial prejudice to which she was subjected,

“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

One of the Champions of the American Civil Rights Movement was Rosa Parks. A native of Tuskegee Alabama, she was said by some to be the mother of the African American Civil Rights Movement. Making a living as a seamstress, she was highly involved in the local efforts of the N.A.A.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) as well as exceedingly active in her church congregation, Rosa Parks would become infamous for simply refusing to be treated differently because of the color of her skin. Aboard the Cleveland Avenue bus coming home from work on the evening of December 1st 1955, an already weary Rosa Parks was instructed by the bus driver to surrender her seat to a Caucasian man who had boarded the bus subsequent to her. When she refused to do so, the police were summoned and she consequentially was arrested. This was her first time to be under arrest, but she conducted herself in a professional and dignified manner despite the extreme injustice she was being served (Johnson 212). Jo Ann Robinson called Rasa Parks a woman of "high morals and a strong character". She was exactly what the N.A.A.C.P. needed for a plaintiff in their proposed civil suit against the bus company (Marcus 260).

“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.