Rosa Parks is an enduring icon, dubbed the “mother of the civil rights movement”, but why is she so famous?
Rosa Parks is famous for her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested for her actions, which sparked local leaders to fight for equal rights, and her determination to tackle discrimination continues to inspire generations.
Read on to learn more about her activism, the boycott she inspired, and her legacy.
A Life of Activism
Though Rosa Parks became an icon after refusing to vacate her bus seat for a white man in 1955, she’d been advocating strongly for equal rights for decades prior.
Born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Rosa Parks was raised by her mother and grandparents, who were both enslaved earlier in their lives.
She grew up on her grandparents’ small farm, but racial discrimination was rife and she was influenced by the political advocacy of her family.
As a child, Ku Klux Klan members would march down her street whilst her grandfather, armed, stood watch outside their house. Lynchings occured near her home and and discrimination was rife, but Parks didn’t always understand why she was treated differently.
She said in an interview, “when I was a young child I couldn’t understand why black people weren’t treated fairly. But when I did learn about it, I didn’t feel very good about it”.
She attended segregated schools throughout her childhood, and flourished despite there being few materials to aid her learning. But growing up in legally segregated Montgomery was humiliating to Rosa, who felt that “it was not right to be deprived of freedom”.
She married Raymond Parks at the age of 19, who was a member of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Rosa became deeply involved too and was the chapter secretary.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Though Rosa Parks is famous for the confrontation that occurred on December 1, 1955, it wasn’t her first altercation with the bus driver. Legislation for the city declared that buses be segregated and that particular driver had a reputation for his treatment of black passengers.
Boarding the bus Rosa was aware of the driver’s identity, but her main priority was to get home. After paying for a seat she sat in the front section of the ‘colored section’ and was asked to move when the ‘white section’ filled up, leaving a white man without a seat.
Though not written into law, it had become customary for bus drivers to ask black passengers to vacate seats to make room for white passengers. On that day Rosa refused to comply and told the driver in response to his demands, “I don’t think I should have to stand up”.
Rosa’s community rallied around her actions, inspired by her determination, but Rosa had no idea of the effect her spontaneous action would have: “at the time I was arrested I didn’t know how the community would react. I was glad that they did take the action that they did by staying off the bus”.
Rosa was “more annoyed than frightened” at the prospect of her arrest and a bus boycott was organized by members of the community in response.
The boycott initially occurred on the day of her trial, but as so many citizens engaged in the boycott, it was extended and lasted for 381 days until the Supreme Court offered their ruling.
On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public transit was unconstitutional, which ended the boycott.
As the instigator of one of history’s most successful mass movements, and as an inspiration for people today, Rosa believes, “people need to free their minds of racial prejudice and believe in equality for all and freedom regardless of race”.
Learn about the life of Rosa Parks in the YouTube video below.