Rosa Parks was an important woman. Little did she know that standing up for herself would change the course of history. By not giving up her seat, and standing up for her own rights. She would give other African Americans all over the chance to also take the stand to be able stand up for themselves. Some people believe that Rosa Parks was just some lady who sat on a bus, but she was so much more than that; she was the “mother of the civil rights movement” (“Teaching with Documents”).
On a significant day a woman would be born, and soon change history. On February 4, 1913 in Alabama Leona and James McCauley had given birth to Rosa Louise McCauley (Reed 277). According to Reed, Leona was a teacher, and her …show more content…
On December 1, 1955 after a long day of work Rosa Parks got on a bus (‘Teaching with Documents”). “Teaching with Documents” describes that the bus was set up to where “the front ten seats were permanently reserved for white passengers...Mrs. Parks was seated in the first row behind those ten seats” (Teaching with Documents”). Rosa was in a legal seat for African Americans. When the white section got filled up, and they had asked Rosa to move to the back she refused. “The driver, James F. Blake, (who had thrown Parks off a bus in 1943 for not boarding at the rear…)” was the same one to throw Rosa off again that day (Freeman). The police then came, and removed Rosa off the bus. “Did they beat you?” her mother asked (Freeman). Her mother knew of the police violent nature, especially towards African Americans. Pettinger states that Four days later, on Monday December 5 was the day of Rosa Parks’ trial (Pettinger). Reed tells how “The black people of Montgomery and sympathizers of other races organized and announced a boycott of the city bus line” (Reed 279). They boycotting was about to begin. “We are asking every negro to stay of the buses” (Pettinger). Freeman lets us know that many African Americans had to use the bus to get to work (Freeman). That was their main transportation method (Freeman). They had to find their own way to work, which made it really difficult. Their plan …show more content…
In February 1956, 89 African Americans were indicted (Freeman). “Nearly seventy ministers, and other leaders” (Freeman). The whites didn’t like what the African Americans were doing so they were trying to fight back. They were trying to go after the leaders. The whites began treating the leaders like they were criminals too (Freeman). To stop them, to make them seem unimportant (Freeman). “…White extremist began bombing the homes of movement leaders” (Freeman). The African Americans however, weren’t phased by what the whites were trying to do (Freeman). They even turned themselves in (Freeman). “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Parks had said (Freeman). She was ready for all of this to end. A few years later “In 1965, she was hired by African American U.S. Representative John Conyers” (Pettinger). “She worked as his secretary until her retirement in 1988” (Pettinger). “During those years she endured the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” (Reed 279). “She suffered the deaths of her husband and brother in 1977 and her mother in 1979 (Reed 279). In 1987 “She founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for self-development” (Parks, Rosa). Which helps people at any age to learn. “In 1995 Mrs. Parks joined children and adults all over the world to mark the 40th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (Reed 280). They did this “through marches, lectures, exhibits, and many other