In the 1900's, blacks couldn't many things that white people could. For example, on buses, blacks had to take the seats in the back of the bus, while the whites had the front, cleaner seats. If there was a seat open in the front, and no whites were standing up, then a black could sit there until a white person came. This is a law that has been vanquished by Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks truly is a memory in American History. She started the civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks lived in Montgomery City, Alabama. She worked as a seamstress. On December 1st, 1955, Rosa was heading home after a long day of work. She got on the bus, and paid the bus fee. Then she sat down in an empty seat in the front. The driver didn't do anything, because no whites were standing. He just drove off. A while after Rosa got on the bus, a white man came. The driver told her and three other men to get up and change their seat, because they were sitting in the white row. The white man had no seat. She refused to get out of her seat, no matter how loud the driver yelled. The police soon came, and arrested her. She was bailed out 24 hours later.
Blacks around the city heard of this, and decided to start a boycott. The Montgomery Improvement Association organized the boycott. As their leader, they chose a young Baptist minister who was new to Montgomery: Martin Luther King Jr. They wouldn't ride the buses anymore. They either walked to work, or took taxis. This made the busing company lose a lot of money. The boycott lasted for 381 days, into late December of 1956. The United States Supreme Court said that segregation was unlawful, and that Montgomery had no right to do it to the blacks. The next month, the law was removed and people could sit anywhere they wanted to on the bus. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. created the civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks. She is a very famous person, and to be remembered in history.
Rosa Parks started the Civil Rights movement, and it will forever be an important marker in our American History. Racism is not right, you shouldn't judge somebody by the way they look on the outside, it's inner beauty that counts.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." This was said by Martin Luther King Jr., in his "I have a Dream" Speech.
Equal Rights is surely something worth fighting for.
CITATIONS:
Stevens, Patsy. "Rosa Parks." Garden of Praise. N.p., 2006. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.
<http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdrosa.htm>
Rosa Parks and Jim Haskins. Rosa Parks, My Story. United States of America: n.p., 1992. Print.
"The Story Behind The Bus." The Henry Ford. N.p., 2002. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp>.
Teare, Erin. "Martin Luther King Jr. Quotations." Infoplease. N.p., 2007. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkquotes1.html>
