Rosa Parks
"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear."-Rosa Parks.
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was 'the first lady of civil rights'. A single act of defiance against a racist world sparked a fire that would spread across America.
While Rosa Parks became a beacon of hope for all the ill-treated African-Americans, this great lady had very humble beginnings.
Rosa Loise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. Her mother, Leona, was a teacher, and her father, James, was a carpenter.
She was of African, Cherokee, Creek, and Scotch-Irish decent, making her one of the biggest minorities. She was a very small child and suffered often from her chronic tonsillitis.
When her parents separated, she moved with her mother and younger brother, Sylvester, to her grandparent's farm, in Pine Level, just outside of Montgomery.
Rosa went to rural schools until she was 11, then she attended the Industrial School for Girls, where she took academic and vocational classes.
She went on after to a laboratory school set up by the Alabama State Teachers College for Negros, but she had to drop out to take care of her Grandmother, and later her mother, when they fell ill.
Rosa recalled having to walk to school, being passed by the school buses, taking white children to their schools. To Rosa, this was just the way life was.
In the early 20th century, segregation began in earnest. While people no longer owned slaves, things were still difficult for black people. On the public buses, black sections were enforced, so that only white people could sit in the front, there were no school buses for black people, and their schools were always underfunded.
Rosa recalled kindness from strangers in her autobiography, but it was impossible for her to ignore the blatant racism around her. She recalled one incident were the Ku Klux Klan marched in front of their house, and her grandfather had to stand in the doorway with a shotgun, guarding the house.
In 1932, Rosa McCauley became Rosa Parks. She married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery.
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| Raymond and Rosa Parks |
Raymond was a member of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), which, at the time, was collecting funds to help support the defense of the Scottsboro Boys, who were falsely accused of the rape of two white teenage girls. They had been given 3 rushed and unfair trials, so the NAACP took up their cause.
After her marriage Rosa took various jobs, doing anything from a domestic worker to a hospital aide.
Raymond encouraged her to finish getting her highschool diploma. She finally got her diploma in 1933, making her one of the less than 7% of black people who finished their GED.
Despite the Jim Crow laws, Rosa succeeded in registering to vote on her third try.
In December of 1943, Rosa became an active member of the Civil Rights movement, and joined the NAACP.
The Montgomery chapter of NAACP was in need of secretary, so Rosa took up the job. She later recalled that she "...was the only woman there, and they needed a secretary, and [she] was too timid to say no."
In 1944, Rosa investigated the brutal gang rape of Recy Taylor, a black woman from Abbeville, Alabama.
Rosa helped to organize the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor. It was "the strongest campaign for equal justice to be seen in a decade" according to the Chicago Defender.
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| Emmett Till |
In the 1940s Rosa and Raymond became part of the Voter's League. Sometime after 1944, Rosa got a job at the the Maxwell Air Force base, which, being federal property, did not allow racial segregation. She was even able to ride on the integrated trolley.
After this, Rosa worked as a housekeeper and seamstress for Clifford and Virginia Durr, who were a white couple.
The Durrs were politically liberal, so they became friends with Rosa. They encouraged Rosa in the summer of 1955 to attend the Highlander Folk School. The Durrs even helped sponsor Rosa to go.
Highlander Folk School was a school for activism in worker's rights and racial equality, in Tennessee.
In August 1955, Emmett Till, only 14 years old, was murdered for reportedly flirting with a white woman.
On November 27, a few months after Emmett's murder, Rosa attended a mass meeting in Montgomery. The meeting was to address Emmett's murder, as well as the murders of George W. Lee and Lamar Smith, who were both activists.
In the year 1900, Montgomery had passed a law that would segregate bus passengers by race. Bus drivers were supposed to be able to assign seats, however, nobody was ever supposed to have to move once in their assigned seat.
Over time, however, bus drivers began to move the sign (the sign was to show where the white seats ended and the black seats began), whenever more white people entered the bus than there was space for.
The first 4 rows were generally reserved for white people, but more often than not, they would have much more of the bus than was their share.
Generally, more than 75% of the people riding the bus were black people, which made it ridiculous that they were not allowed to sit where there was space. If a white man or woman was sitting in one of the middle rows, the black people had to move to the back, and they were also not allowed to sit across from white people. If the bus got too full, blacks were either required to stand or, if it came to it, leave the bus and walk.
If the front of the bus was full with white people, a black person had to get on the front of the bus, pay the fee for riding, then get off and enter through the back of the bus.
For years, the black community complained that this was completely unfair, which of course it was.
Even before her refusal to move, Rosa Parks said that "My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest...I did a lot of walking in Montgomery."
At one point, in 1943, before her major protest, Rosa decided to take the bus because it was raining. She entered the bus through the front and paid her fee. She was then instructed to get out and enter though the back of the bus. Rosa tried to follow these demands, but the bus driver drove away before she could get back on the bus, forcing her to walk home in the rain.
One December evening, in 1955, around 6pm, after work, Rosa boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus and sat in the first row of the black seats, directly behind the last chair in the reserved for white people seats. Rosa did not initially notice that the bus driver, James Blake, was the same man who had left her standing in the rain years before.
As the bus went along it's route, the white seats filled up. On it's third stop, in front of the Empire Theater, several more white people boarded.
When James Blake noticed that some of the white people were standing, he went to move the sign and demanded that four black people move.
Rosa said later that "When that driver stepped back towards us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night".
At first, the three other black people didn't move either, but when the bus driver told them "ya'll better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats," they all moved. Rosa only moved closer to the window seat.
When the bus driver asked Rosa, "Why don't you stand up?" Rosa bravely responded, "I don't think I should have to stand up".
The bus driver called the police and Rosa was arrested.
"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. I was not old, although some people have an image of me being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."-Rosa Parks, My Story.
"Any employee in charge of a bus operated in the city shall have the powers of a police officer of the city while in actual charge of any bus, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the preceding section, and it shall be unlawful for any passenger to refuse or fail to take a seat among those assigned to the race to which he belongs, at the request of any such employee in charge, if there is such a seat vacant."
The next day, Edgar Nixon, president of the Montgomery NAACP and Clifford Durr bailed Rosa out of jail.
That night, Mr. Nixon spoke with Jo Ann Robinson, a member of the Women's Political Council (WPC). Mr. Nixon decided that Rosa's story could spark something new. He stayed up all night making over 35,000 handbills, announcing his plan: to boycott the buses. WPC was the first foundation to endorse this cause.
On Sunday, December 4th, 1955, just 3 days after Rosa's arrest, the plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott were announced in all of the black churches in the area. The front page of The Montgomery Adviser was plastered with the plan as well.
At a church rally that night, everyone in attendance agreed to keep the boycott going until they were treated with the respect they deserved, until black bus drivers were hired, and the seating in the middle of the bus was a first-come-first-served situation.
The very next day, Rosa was charged with 'disorderly conduct' and 'violating a local ordinance'. The trial lasted only 30 minutes and Rosa was found guilty. She was fined $10, plus $4 court fees. Rosa decided to appeal her conviction, and formally challenged the legality of racial segregation.
Later, Rosa recalls that "[She] did not want to be mistreated, [she] did not want to be deprived of a seat that [she] had paid for. It was just time...there was opportunity for [her] to take a stand to express the way [she] felt about being treated in that manner."
On the day of Rosa's trial, the WPC distributed the leaflet that Mr. Nixon had printed. It read:
"Another Negro woman as been arrested and thrown in jail because she refused to get up out of her seat for a white person to sit down. It is the second time since the Claudette Colvin Case that a negro woman has been arrested for the same thing. This has to be stopped. Negros have rights, too, for if Negros did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are negros, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your mother, or your daughter. This woman's case will come up Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere on Monday. You can afford to stay out of school for one day if you have no other way to go except by bus. You can also afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off all buses."
On Monday, the day of Rosa's trial and the boycott, it rained. Despite this, the black community persevered. Some people rode in car pools, some took cabs operated by other black people, but the majority walked, some as far as 20 miles, in the rain, all thanks to Rosa Parks refusing to move.
That evening, after the extreme success of the boycott, a group of about 16-18 gathered at Mt. Zion church to decide how to proceed. The group decided that they needed a new organization to continue the boycott effort. Reverend Ralph Abernathy suggested that they call their new group the Montgomery Improvement Association, or MIA. The name was liked, and so MIA was formed.
I don't know if it was on purpose or just irony that the group was named MIA, because they planned to boycott the buses, leaving all of the black people 'missing in action', or MIA.
The members of MIA elected a newcomer to Montgomery as their president. The young and mostly unknown pastor was named Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday night, 50 African-American community leaders gathered to discuss actions against Rosa's arrest.
Rosa was the perfect plaintiff for a test case against city and state segregation laws. Rosa was seen as responsible and mature, with an excellent reputation. According to Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa was seen as "one of the finest citizens in Montgomery-not one of the finest Negros citizens, but one of the finest citizens of Montgomery".
Rosa was happily married, securely employed, she was quiet and dignified in demeanor, and was well versed politically.
Rosa's court case was slow going, as it was being slowed down in appeals through the Alabama courts on it's way to the Federal courts. The whole process could have taken years.
Holding together the bus boycott for years would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Despite all odds, the black community in Montgomery held to their boycott for 381 days, more than one whole year, although it didn't come without considerable personal sacrifice.
Many of the city's buses sat empty for months. The bus transit company was becoming crippled with lack of fiances.
Finally, the city repealed it's law requiring segregation on the buses after the Browder v. Gale case, when the US Supreme Court ruled that the segregation was unconstitutional.
Rosa played a vital role in raising international awareness of the mistreatment of the African-American citizens of United States.
Later, Martin Luther King Jr would write in his book Stride Towards Freedom, that Rosa's protest was the catalyst rather than the cause.
"The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices. Actually, no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out 'I can take it no longer'".
While Rosa fanned this flame into existence and became the icon for the Civil Right Movement, she suffered many hardships as a result.
Rosa was fired from her job at the department store, and Raymond quit his job when his boss forbade him to talk about his wife or the legal case.
In 1957, Rosa and Raymond moved the Hampton, Virginia, mostly because Rosa could not find any work. She also disagreed with the Montgomery civil rights leaders about how to proceed.
In Virginia, Rosa found a job as a hostess at an inn at Hampton Institute, which is a historically black college.
Later that same year, Rosa, Raymond, and Rosa's mother moved to Detroit, Michigan, at the urging of Sylvester and Daisy McCauley, Rosa's brother and sister-in-law.
While there, Rosa worked as a seamstress until 1965, when she was hired as a secretary to John Conyers, an African-American US representative. She kept this job until she retired in 1988.
The 1970s were a very hard time for Rosa personally. Both Sylvester and Raymond, now in their 60s, were diagnosed with cancer, as was her mother. Both Raymond and Rosa suffered from stomach ulcers, which frequently put them in the hospital.
Despite her fame, Rosa was not a wealthy woman. She donated most of the money she made from speaking engagements to civil rights causes. She lived on her staff salary and Raymond's pension. Between the medical bills and all the time she missed at work forced her to often accept money from church groups and admirers.
On August 19, 1977, Raymond Parks died, leaving Rosa a widow. In November of the same year, Sylvester, Rosa's only sibling, also passed away. She discovered that her long time friend, Fannie Lou Hamer, also died.
Adding to her distress, Rosa fell on an icy sidewalk and broke two bones, causing her frequent pain.
Rosa decided to move with her mother into an apartment for senior citizens. She nursed her mother throughout the rest of her days, dealing with her cancer and dementia. Leona McCauley died in 1979, at the age of 92.
In 1980, Rosa was windowed and had no immediate family, so she threw herself full-force back into the Civil Rights movement.
She co-founded the Rosa L. Park Scholarship Foundation, a program for college-bound highschool seniors. She donated most of her speaking fees to this program.
She also helped to start the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development with Elaine Steele. This institute runs the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours, which introduce young people to important sites from the Civil Rights Movement and the Underground Railroad.
In 1992, Rosa published her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story. It recounts her life leading up to the moment when she refused to leave her seat.
On August 30th, 1992, Rosa, who was 81 at the time, was quietly minding her own business in her home when Joseph Skipper, a troubled African-American drug addict, broke into her home.
Skipper did not realize that it was Rosa Park's home when he broke in, but upon seeing her, he recognized her and even asked "Hey, aren't you Rosa Parks?".
When he demanded money from her, she gave him $3, then added $50 when he demanded more.
Before fleeing the scene, Skipper struck Rosa in the face.
The entire story caused an outrage across the country.
Skipper was arrested and sentenced to 8-15 years in prison, for various breaking and entering charges.
Rosa was, naturally, very anxious living alone in Detroit now, so she moved to Riverfront Tower, a secure high rise apartment.
In 1994, the KKK applied to sponsor a section of US interstate 55 in Saint Louis, Missouri. The State could not refuse the KKK's sponsorship, which no doubt made them uncomfortable, so the Missouri legislator voted to have the highway section named the Rosa Parks highway. No doubt a slap in the face to the KKK.
In 1995, Rosa published her memoirs, entitled, Quiet Strength. This was about the faith in her life.
in 1999, Rosa filmed a cameo appearance for the television series, Touched by an Angel. This was to be her last television appearance, as her health was quickly sliding downhill.
In 2002, Rosa received an eviction notice from her apartment because she had not payed her $1800 a month rent. Rosa was unable to manage her own fiances, and her rent was payed for by a collection take up at the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church.
When she was unable to pay rent and her probable eviction was highly publicized, the company announced that they would forgive the un-paid rent and allow Rosa to live there, rent-free, for the rest of her life.
On October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, Rosa Parks slipped away in her apartment. She died of natural causes.
City officials in Montgomery and Detroit tied black ribbons on all the front seats on the buses, in honor of Rosa until the day of her funeral.
Rosa's body was taken to several places of importance, in order to honor her, before she came to her final resting place beside Raymond, at Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery, in the mausoleum.
Rosa Parks stood up for her rights by sitting down. She stared bravely into the eyes of the men and women who looked down on her for nothing more than the color of her skin. Hundreds before her were abused and mistreated due to race, but a simple act of defiance sparked a rebellion against the mistreatment of any human because of the color of her skin.
Rosa Parks died in my lifetime. Because of her, I, at 10 years old, didn't have much of an idea of racial segregation. When I rode the school bus, my cousins, who are African-American, were able to sit where they chose. My grandparents were able to get married because of Rosa Parks. My parents were able to get married because of Rosa Parks.
"I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free...so other people would be also free." -Rosa Parks.
I think I can safely say that Rosa is and will be remembered the way she wanted to be. As a person who wanted to be free.
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