Rosa Parks Biography

Americans Who Tell the Truth
Rosa Parks
	Rosa Parks Biography Seamstress, Civil Rights Leader, 1913 – 2005 “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” “This is an eloquent statement. But there is no verbal eloquence to match the eloquence of her action. Has a refusal to stand up ever had such repercussions? She told the police that they had her permission to arrest her. She would not relinquish the significance of her act to the mere enforcers of an unjust law” (Robert Shetterly). On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was riding home from work on a city bus. When asked by the driver to give up her seat to a white man, she refused. For this one act she was arrested, fingerprinted and put in jail, and from this one act grew the 382-day Montgomery bus boycott of which Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the leaders. In 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court declared that segregation of public transportation is against the law. Born in rural Alabama, Rosa Parks was no stranger to the struggle for racial justice. At the time of her famous refusal to move to the back of the bus, Mrs. Parks was secretary of the Montgomery branch of the NAACP. She also worked as a seamstress for a downtown department store. In her 1994 memoir, Quiet Strength, Rosa Parks wrote: “I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents and how strong they were. I knew that there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given me to do what I had asked of others.”	Next Portrait Previous Portrait Zinn Education Project offers these resources for study of Rosa Parks. http://zinnedproject.org/?s=rosa+parks In particular, this piece by Herbert Kohl examining the myths surrounding Rosa Parks and how they are problematic is of great importance. http://zinnedproject.org/posts/596 Americans Who Tell the Truth seeks to use Rosa Parks' story as an example of activists organizing, civil disobedience and the need for communities to act in solidarity to achieve intentional outcomes. We also work hard to help students see the interconnected nature of the work of hundreds , if not thousands, of individuals in a cause. Students should research the Highlander Center as part of this portrait study in order to deepen their knowledge of the training and education that went into these types of actions. Here is a link to the Highlander Center page about Rosa Parks and her time at Highlander. http://www.highlandercenter.org/n-rosa-parks.asp Students can link to the portraits of Claudette Colvin and Dr. King in relation to this portrait study. Students should use the very different actions and results of Claudette Colvin as a way to better understand the role of Rosa Parks. Fascinating study of the two young women and their place in our history. http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Claudette_Colvin.php Americans Who Tell the Truth also emphasizes the quote on each portrait in the classroom. In particular, this quote directly addresses one of the myths about Rosa Parks: that she was simply tired that day from her work. She clearly states what made her feel so tired here. We ask students to try to identify what makes them feel this same level of "tired" that Rosa Parks feels. It is important that the teacher paint a very accurate picture of what Rosa Park's daily life was like and what her relationship to that particular bus driver might have been like. All that allows students to better know what courage it took to act in this way.

Americans Who Tell the Truth