Rosa Parks has been called ‘the first lady of civil rights’ and ‘the mother of the freedom movement.’ Over 50 years ago today – December 1, 1955 – Rosa sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott after refusing to vacate her seat for a white passenger.
Her defiance became a symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement, and Rosa found herself an international icon in the fight to resist racial segregation.
Recalling the incident, Rosa said, “When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waived 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.”
In her autobiography, ‘My Story’ Rosa dispels the myth that she refused to give up her seat because she was tired after a long work day.
“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 as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Rosa was arrested and charged for refusing to give up her seat. Three days later, the bus boycott began, and lasted a total of 381 days.
To read more about Rosa Parks, visit Wikipedia.
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