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 Thursday marks the 61st anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white man — an action that got her arrested, sparked the Montgomery bus boycott Today marks the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ decision to sit down for her rights on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, putting the effort to end segregation on a fast track. Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, after she refused to give up her seat on a crowded bus to a white passenger. 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 The story of Rosa Parks as a radical activist and believer in self-defense and Black Power; of the Women’s Political Council that started the boycott and of the many women who came before Mrs. Parks; and of the development of King’s profound vision of nonviolent resistance through the aid of his brilliant new mentor, Bayard Rustin who as a gay man was forced to stay in the shadows. A 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. African-Americans had wilfully violated the segregation of public transport before Rosa Parks, even in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, where 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested nine months earlier for the same crime of refusing to give up her bus seat. Yet it was Parks’ now immortalised Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement, made the decision to remain in her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus because she didn’t believe she should have to move because of her race, even though that was the law. In the middle of the crowded bus, Parks was arrested for her refusal to relinquish her seat on Dec. 1, 1955 — 61 years ago. Dec. 1, 1955 Deputy D.H. Lackey fingerprints Rosa Parks after her arrest for boycotting public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama. Credit: Wikipedia Four days after hearing civil rights leader Dr. T.R.M. Howard describe what happened to Emmett Till, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. However, her husband motivated her to return to school when she was 19; she got her diploma in 1933. She Was Always Active in the Civil Rights Movement. Contrary to what many people think, Parks didn’t join the civil rights movement after the Montgomery bus boycott; she was active in the civil rights movement before 1955. Rosa Parks, a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, had strong support from her husband, Raymond Parks. Known for his activism, Raymond often used his car for various purposes, including transporting people to and from meetings. TIL Rosa Parks didn't actually refuse to sit in the back of the bus. She was sitting in the back of the bus but refused to give up her seat in the "colored section" to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled. 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. Parks was an adult in 1955 while Colvin was a 15 year-old teenager saying, “they (the NAACP) didn't think teenagers were reliable.” Colvin thought Parks' “skin texture was the kind that people associate with the middle class.” She also got pregnant around the time of her arrest, which didn't help her image as a role model for the NAACP. The Parks family didn't have a car until then, according to Jeanne Theoharis, professor of political science at Brooklyn College and author of "The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks." Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913, and died on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92. She married Raymond Parks in 1932. Her husband was a barber in Montogomery and a member of the NAACP, the Civil Rights Movement organization. Rosa and her husband, Raymond, had a 10-year age gap. Rosa Parks: It was, I think it was the individual drivers because some drivers didn't do that. They regarded us, even with segregation, it was, they didn't bother you, you just got on the bus, paid your fare and find your place where you could sit or stand. INTERVIEWER: MRS. In December 1955, Rosa Parks' refusal as a Black woman to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked a citywide bus boycott. That protest came to a successful conclusion Rosa Parks didn't give up her seat to a white person. My first reason I'm going to talk about is why do colored peope have to give up there seat to a white person. My second thing I'm going to talk about is why would Rosa get arrested just for not giving up her seat to someone. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks and Raymond Parks, her husband (the one you now know she had) are both active in the NAACP in 1955, and they have been for years. Rosa is the Youth Council adviser. She is, more importantly, NAACP branch secretary, working for E.D. Nixon (who thinks women should stay home, but makes an exception because Mrs. Parks is
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