On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old secretary named Rosa Parks disobeyed an order from bus driver James Blake to give up her seat so that a white man could have it. Parks was arrested for her actions, which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Parks was arrested and found guilty four days later. She appealed the conviction, but the appeal was not addressed before the law was changed. The bus boycott began on the day of the trial and lasted for 381 days. Montgomery's segregation system for buses was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in November of 1956. Parks rode a bus again -in the front- on December 21, 1956, the day after the order arrived in Montgomery. Link -via Breakfast Links
...following standard practice, bus driver Blake noted that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers and there were two or three men standing, and thus moved the "colored" section sign behind Parks and demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks said, "When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."[16]
By Parks' account, Blake said, "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats."[17] Three of them complied. Parks said, "The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't."[18] The black man sitting next to her gave up his seat. Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she did not get up to move to the newly repositioned colored section.[19] Blake then said, "Why don't you stand up?" Parks responded, "I don't think I should have to stand up." Blake called the police to arrest Parks. When recalling the incident for Eyes on the Prize, a 1987 public television series on the Civil Rights Movement, Parks said, "When he saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up, and I said, 'No, I'm not.' And he said, 'Well, if you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police and have you arrested.' I said, 'You may do that.'"[20]
Parks was arrested and found guilty four days later. She appealed the conviction, but the appeal was not addressed before the law was changed. The bus boycott began on the day of the trial and lasted for 381 days. Montgomery's segregation system for buses was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in November of 1956. Parks rode a bus again -in the front- on December 21, 1956, the day after the order arrived in Montgomery. Link -via Breakfast Links
Some people are simply considered to be lesser species than others because of their race. People all over the world still have this sort of intolerance today for others. Propaganda would have you believe it's a white phenomenon, but it transcends all races, creeds, and mindsets.
Rosa Parks was awesome. I am never tired of being reminded of what she and others did for civil rights. It affects us all.
It is so strange to me that it was so recently - within my father's lifetime - that certain people were not allowed to sit in certain places, or had to use different entrances, based on whether or not they were white.