Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
Rosa Parks, 1913-2005
Civil rights hero Rosa Parks died Monday at the age of 92. It has been nearly 50 years since she sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Since then, she has become a legendary figure. Part of what inspires us about her story, I think, is that she managed to effect such a large change by one decisive action. While it might be hard for most of us to see ourselves in the shoes of, say, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we can all think of small actions we can take to stand up for our beliefs and values. Rosa Parks acted at a time when social change was already starting. Ordinary people--other nameless bus riders--took up her cause and magnified what she had done, until white society could no longer turn away from racial segregation.
For further reading, this editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was strong and to-the-point. An article in slate.com debunks the myth that Parks was a simple woman, unaware of the implications of her historic action, and discusses her two decades of prior civil rights work.
posted by Tess | 11:31 AM
3 Comments:
You have to remember that she wasn't just a tired lady on a bus. She was already a member of local civil rights activism organizations, which had been waiting for an opportunity to begin the boycott. She sat on several busses until she was told to move, and then given that opportunity, she refused and made history. She set out with intent, which is where history has done her a disservice. She was an activist, not just a lady too tired to move on back. Her actions were not acceidental or haphazard. She was as determined as King, just with a different role to play. That aspect of her story is rarely reported (she is now more myth than history anyway).
Not really a point there, I realized. Just some info to out her actions in to perspective.
I certainly didn't mean to dismiss her previous activism--I just think it's easier for us to identify with a single action, since most of us aren't able to devote our lives to a cause as King did. I agree that it's a shame that people don't know more about what really happened.
When I was a kid Ms. Parks was someone we learned about growing up outside Detroit.
I remember hearing tape of her speaking and her saying she wasn't trying to make a point about color, but more about respect in general. She was supposed to give her seat up to a man. As a lady--especially in that era, that was a dichotomy...except that she was a "negro" and he was "caucasian."
I was saddened to hear of her passing.
Hh
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