Show students the introduction video to the Library of Congress exhibit “ Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words.” Ask students to develop an initial hypothesis of 1-2 sentences that answers the focus question: How did Rosa Parks' activism evolve during the Black Freedom Movement? The hypothesis should include an argument and a line of reasoning. Rosa Parks (whose birthday would have been Feb. 4) is often remembered as the quiet seamstress who ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger in 1955. Yet, her history as an advocate against sexual violence—particularly the sexual exploitation of Black women—is often overlooked. The boycott was a massive financial blow to the bus system, which depended heavily on black passengers. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. Rosa’s bravery sparked a movement that changed the course of history. Rosa’s Legacy. After the boycott, Rosa continued her work for civil rights. Rosa Parks (born February 4, 1913, Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.—died October 24, 2005, Detroit, Michigan) was an American civil rights activist whose refusal to relinquish her seat on a public bus precipitated the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which became the spark that ignited the civil rights movement in the United States. Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. Her actions By refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, Rosa Parks is known as “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Her decision sparked campaigns around the country, which eventually led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Who was Rosa Parks and what did she do? Rosa Parks was born Rosa McCauley on February 4 Every American knows the story of Rosa Parks. Her refusal to surrender a bus seat to a white passenger in 1955 led to her arrest and sparked the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, a pivotal protest of the Civil Rights era that helped turn a young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. into a national figure. On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Discover how her act of defiance sparked the US civil rights movement. Rosa Parks waves from a United Air Lines jetway in Seattle, Washington, one of many trips she took to raise money and awarness for the bus boycott. Gil Baker, 1956. In September 2014, the Library of Congress received a remarkable 10-year loan of the Rosa Parks Collection. Civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the transformational Montgomery Bus Boycott. In Stride Toward Freedom, King’s 1958 memoir of the boycott, he declared the real meaning of the Montgomery bus boycott to be the power of a growing self-respect to animate the struggle for civil rights. The roots of the bus boycott began years before the arrest of Rosa Parks. The Bus Boycott “During the Montgomery bus boycott, we came together and remained unified for 381 days. It has never been done again. The Montgomery boycott became the model for human rights throughout the world.” When Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, she was mentally prepared Montgomery bus boycott, mass protest against the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, by civil rights activists and their supporters that led to a 1956 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery’s segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional. The boycott was led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Rosa Parks (center, in dark coat and hat) rides a bus at the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Alabama, Dec. 26, 1956. Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images. Most of us know Rosa Parks as the African American woman who quietly, but firmly, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. That small act of Rosa Parks occupies an iconic status in the civil rights movement after she refused to vacate a seat on a bus in favor of a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1955, Parks rejected a bus driver's order to leave a row of four seats in the "colored" section once the white section had filled up and move to the back of the bus. The bus began to fill up, and soon the driver asked the black passengers to give up their seats for white people and move to the back of the bus. Sculpture of Rosa Parks inside a bus at the National Civil Rights Museum. Credit: Gino Santa Maria / Shutterstock.com. Rosa Parks continuously refused to stand up and give up her seat. Rosa Parks launched the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. The boycott proved to be one of the pivotal moments of the emerging civil rights movement. For 13 months, starting in December 1955, the black citizens of Montgomery protested nonviolently with the goal of desegregating the city’s public buses. Episode 9, Season 3 Everyone thinks they know the story, but the real history of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott is even better. This episode details the events that set the stage for Ms. Parks’ civil disobedience. You’ll meet the leaders and organizations who transformed a moment of activism into a 13-month campaign. And you’ll learn about the community that held fast in the Montgomery bus driver James Blake ordered Parks and three other African Americans seated nearby to move ("Move y'all, I want those two seats,") to the back of the bus. Three riders complied; Parks did not. The following excerpt of what happened next is from Douglas Brinkley's 2000 Rosa Park's biography. Parks—a middle-class, well-respected civil rights activist—was the ideal candidate. Just a few days after Parks’s arrest, activists announced plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott, which officially began December 5, 1955, did not support just Parks but countless other African Americans who had been arrested for the same reason.
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