ROSA PARKS

BY ANNA NEUMANN
HISTORY AND Avid/tech
MARCH 2014

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Neumann, Anna
Ms. Vaque, Mr. Desantiago
8
th
grade history, AVID/ Tech
23 February, 2014
Rosa Parks:
Imagine a place where though many African American worked in the homes of white
people, cooking their food and acting as a nanny for their children, Caucasians still enforced
segregation, perhaps only to serve as a reminder that they were second-class citizens. In the
south in the 1950s, people would not be served in white stores, could not eat in white
restaurants, and had to sit in the colored section of the buses. While many people hated this
unfair treatment, many were too fearful to speak out against it or take action to change it. One
woman, however, was brave enough to stand up against injustice. Rosa Parks was a major
catalyst in the beginning of the civil rights movement, which would later end segregation and
create equal opportunities and treatment for African Americans and Caucasians.
Before the civil rights movement, there was a lot of mistreatment of people of color,
especially because of Jim Crow laws, or laws that were created after 1876 to enforce
segregation of white people and people of color. For example, one law in Alabama stated that it
would be illegal to have white and colored people eating in the same room unless divided by a
wall tall enough so that they couldnt see the other group of people, with separate entrances to
further ensure no contact will be made (Randall), which is unfair treatment of colored people
and goes against the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of our constitution
which states no state shall make any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
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citizens of the United States nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws. Another example of some of the unfair treatment colored people faced was that
the conductor of a passenger train was required to assign colored people and white people to
separate cars divided by a solid partition (Randall). Another Jim Crow law stated that no one
could require a nurse to nurse in a ward where colored men were placed (Randall). Although
this doesnt even begin to show all of the suffering and unfair treatment of colored people, it
does give an idea of the extreme racism at the time. All of the Jim Crow laws violated the 14
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amendment of the constitution, which angered and disheartened African American people who
wanted to all be equal under the law with equal opportunities, just as the constitution stated
was peoples right. It was evident that something needed to be done to change the way people
were being treated, and although Rosa Parks didnt intend to be the catalyst that gave the civil
rights movement a push, she became a very important figure in the advancement of the civil
rights movement (Rowbotham).
Rosa Parks had a different childhood that influenced her to fight for civil rights later in
life. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, to a mother who was a teacher and a father who was a
carpenter, Parks grew up in an environment that valued education and encouraged her to fight
for her rights (Moholtra). Until the age of eleven, she was homeschooled by her mother. At
eleven, she was sent to Miss Whites Industrial school for girls in Montgomery, where she
learned to sew, a skill she was later able to apply in life and get a job at the local department
store as a seamstress with. Parks mother was a strong believer in the necessity for equality and
justice (Moholtra). This is illustrated when Parks mother encouraged her to follow in her
grandfather Sylvester Edwards footsteps and fight for equality and take a stand against racism.
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She also reportedly remembers her grandfather watching the Ku Klux Klan walk down the street
and him guarding the door by standing there with a loaded shotgun. She also attended a
nonviolent protest workshop at Highlander folk school, which encouraged the idea of a
peaceful protest (highlander folk school). Attending church and a strong belief in God and the
necessity for nonviolence also made a huge impact on her choice of nonviolent protest.
Growing up in an environment with racism heavily present, yet knowing that she didnt need to
submit to being treated as a second class citizen, may have caused her to fight for justice and
equality later in life through the civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks made a statement that created an impact by refusing to move from her seat
on the bus. On December first, 1955, Rosa Parks was seated in the colored section of the bus.
As the bus began to fill up with more people after several stops, the bus driver at the time
moved the colored section sign another row back and ordered Parks and three other people to
give up their seats so that one man could sit down. Rosa Parks refused, although not because,
as many believe, she was weary from a hard day at work, but because she was tired of giving in
to the unjust treatment she constantly received (Rowbotham).
When the bus driver informed her that if she didnt move, he
would call the police, she simply stated you may do that. Parks
was then arrested and fined for breaking the law that mandated
segregation; she considered the fact that maybe her refusal to
move could be the test case, the spur that began a bus boycott that would start the civil rights
movement. The NAACP had been looking for a test case, but other people who had refused to
move on the bus had reputations that werent picture perfect, while she seemed to fit the
Parks' real reason for not moving
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profile. After all, she was respected because she was educated, had a job as a seamstress, was
married, and had not previously done anything extreme that caused her bad publicity. Because
of her refusal to move on the bus, the bus boycott began on December fifth 1955 thanks to the
efforts and organization skills of Martin Luther King, the Womens Political Council and the
Montgomery Improvement Association, who called the boycott. On December fifth 1955, a bus
boycott that lasted 381 days before it finally ended on December 21, 1956, when the Supreme
Court ruled that the buses must be integrated.
Rosa Parks refusal to give up her seat acted as
the trigger for the civil rights movement. This was a
huge step forward for the civil rights movement. After
this, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his well-known
speech I have a dream that touched the hearts of many and gave them the courage to
continue rebelling against racism and Jim Crow laws. Later, President John F. Kennedy began
writing the civil rights act, which was passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 after
Kennedys death. This act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. It ended the difficult and unequal voter registration requirements, segregation
in schools, at work and at general facilities, or public accommodations. In short, Rosa Parks
became a hero because of her actions. The refusal to stand for unequal treatment began a
chain reaction that resulted in the end of Jim Crow laws and segregation. According to a study
done by Sam Wineberg, in over 2000 high school students opinions, Rosa Parks is one of
Montgomery bus boycott
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Americas greatest heroes. Never did she imagine that one act could result in so much more,
causing her to become one of Americas greatest heroes.













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Work cited
Moholtra, Ajay. rosaparksfacts.com. Rosa Parks Early Life and Childhood. Rosa Parks Facts.
2008.
Web. 18 Feb 2014.
Randall, Vernellia R.. academic.udayton.edu. Intersectionality. Dayton University. 2001. Web.
18
Feb 2014.
Rowbotham, Sheila. The guardian.com. Rosa Parks. Guardian News and Media. 2014. Web. 18
Feb 2014.
N.a. Stanford.edu. Highlander Folk School. The Martin Luther King Research and Education
center. N.d. Web. 18 Feb 2014.