“No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in” - Rosa Parks
Guided/Essential Questions:
- What is integrity?
- In what ways, actions, or events, did Rosa Parks' story teach us about Integrity?
Vocab to know and define:
- Boycott
- Supreme Court
- Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Ed Nixon
Early Life under Jim Crow
Born in 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley and her family were very familiar with the woes and inequalities that African Americans faced in the deep south. Growing up in Alabama, her family were sharecroppers and her grandmother was a former slave. She would be all too familiar with segregation and the inequalities that African Americans had to endure. Despite this, Rosa made it a point that she did not want to be treated this way. Her mother had taught her to have strong moral principles and to have integrity at a young age which was incredibly difficult during the Jim Crow Era.
She kept these principles and at every opportunity engaged in Civil Rights activism. At the age of 19, she married another activist who later became her husband, Raymond Parks. Raymond feared that her activism would get her hurt as she wasn't fast enough to run from the police and others in the south who protested the activists, but this wouldn't slow her down.
In 1953 an incident occurred on a bus that left a major impression on Rosa Parks. While boarding a bus one day, as she deposited her money and headed toward the back of the bus, the driver turned to her and told her to exit the bus and use the rear door to board. Instead, she kept on going figuring she was already on the bus. The driver got up and rushed to her and raised his hand in a violent motion at which point Rosa looked back and told the driver that he better not hit her.
Soon after she became close friends with E. D. Nixon Jr., a man who was deeply against segregation and would give her an opportunity to help teach a youth group about Civil Rights. She also befriended Virginia Durr who would later help Rosa develop new ideas around activism and learn to incorporate ideals of non-violence, these ideals, of course, would be put to the test shortly after.
In 1955, after arriving home from a retreat with Virginia Durr, Parks entered a bus without realizing it was the same driver from some years earlier. As she took her seat in the colored section of the packed bus, the driver picked up a white man and had to tell the African American passengers to get out of their seats to accommodate the white man. The Driver had asked 4 people to move, 3 did and 1 did not, that person was Rosa Parks. Despite being in the colored section of the bus, she felt she had done nothing wrong, and using non-violence, she took a stand, which was unheard of at the time, and refused to give up the seat. She was subsequently arrested and in this one amazing moment, her simple act became a catalyst for the Civil Rights movement.
381 Days
With an extraordinary effort from activists, youth groups, pastors, and community members, the very next day nearly 35,000 pamphlets were printed and distributed around the city of Montgomery. While some believed it would only last a few days, with the chant, “no rider’s today”, the boycott would last over an entire year.
Rosa Parks, however, did not have as much enthusiasm as she was wrongfully charged with disturbing the peace. However, her small act would allow her case to travel up the Supreme Court where history would later be made for the fight against segregation. When leaders met after Rosa Parks was released, with a young Dr. King leading, asked the members of the community if they wanted to continue the boycott, they all agreed without hesitation.
Over the course of the year, Ms. Parks was very busy. From organizing people to help transport fellow African-Americans, setting up men to walk young women to and from school, even securing hundreds of bicycles so the men could bike to work. Through good weather and bad, the boycott effort was unwavering.
Ms. Parks had to endure her own struggles as well. As the southern white community resisted the change and were angry over the boycott, the influences of several leaders were able to get Ms. Parks fired from her job only one month into the boycott. While the boycotters, Ms. Parks, and Dr. King insisted that the movement was one of non-violence, the KKK responded with barbaric violence and disregard of life. Fires, bombings, and marches were a common occurrence. Even after Dr. King’s home was bombed and the community wanted vengeance, he declared that retaliation and violence should and never be the answer.
The “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”
Synonymous with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, on December 17th, 1956, the Supreme Court order for the buses to be integrated into Montgomery after rejecting the cities appeal and thus segregation in public transportation was outlawed, and that major win, not only cemented Ms. Park’s legacy but essentially became the catalyst for the civil rights movement to come.
Further investigation activities: Using resources to gain a deeper insight and broader perspective
- Using the Library of Congress, research primary sources either in video or archived newspapers about the events of the boycott. What messages can you find? How did people define the actions of the boycott and Rosa Parks?
- On the eve of the boycott, Martin Luther King spoke at the Holt Street Baptist Church, what was his message?
- What role did disc jockeys like Marius “Ace” Anderson play in the successful boycott?