On December 1, 1955, a black woman entered the history of the United States. Rosa Parks became known for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, a crime that was punishable by imprisonment under the laws of the segregated city of Montgomery, Alabama.
It was this silent act. of defying the established rules that started the Civil Rights Movement, which would bring great changes to North American society. However, the story doesn’t stop there. Check out six more inspiring facts about Rosa Parks’ life!
1. Insistence on studies
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Although Rosa Parks has always been a very studious and dedicated person, she had to drop out of high school at 16 to take care of your grandmother who was on her deathbed. At age 19, however, Parks’ husband Raymond insisted that she finish high school.
That’s how she broke yet another mark in her life. Although only 7% of black Americans managed to earn a high school diploma at that time, Parks defied all the numbers and graduated in 1933.
2. Political Participation
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Although Parks gained greater recognition after his arrest in 1955, his struggle for equal rights didn’t start there. By 1943, she had already joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) of Montgomery, where she served as secretary until 1956.
Part of her schedule consisted of traveling around the state of Alabama and interviewing victims of discrimination and lynching witnesses. After moving to Detroit, she then began working as an assistant to Representative John Conyers, with whom she worked to find housing for homeless people.
3. Bus Incident
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The driver James Blake, who drove the bus in which Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 and whoever denounced her had already caused problems for the activist before. In 1943, Blake insisted that Parks exit the vehicle and re-enter through the back doors—a rule for passengers using segregated bus systems.
Instead of waiting for her to turn around, Blake walked away as soon as Parks stepped off the bus. She avoided the driver for 10 years, until she didn’t pay attention on the fateful day of her arrest.
4. Influence as an activist
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Parks never intended to be a big influencer, but that’s exactly what happened after your prison. At this time, several civil rights groups used his silent protest as an opportunity to fight unconstitutional segregation laws in the southern United States.
The Montgomery bus boycott began a few days after his arrest, which made the US Supreme Court outlaw the existence of segregated buses in the region. Furthermore, many historians believe that this moment was what married the federal civil rights legislation in the country in the 1960s.
5. Second arrest
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Not long after his historic arrest in 1955, Parks would face problems with law again on February 22, 1956. This time, she ended up being arrested with 100 more fellow protesters for violating segregation laws during the Montgomery bus boycott.
The event was just as significant as the first time and only added fuel to the fire regarding the need to change things within the state of Alabama.
6. Public wake
(Source : Wikimedia Commons)
After her death in 2005, Rosa Parks was publicly veiled under the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington DC This honor is not only given to the country’s most distinguished citizens, but especially to those who have held public office for many years.
Parks remains to this day a of the four ordinary citizens to receive such an honor and also the only woman among them all.
