Black History Month — Rosa Parks
|ROSA PARKS|
|Lilian Waithaka| Kenya Model United Nations
There are moments in life, where everything conspires with you to rewrite history. December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old seamstress coming from work at Montgomery Fair Department Store got on a bus. Rosa took her seat at the back of the bus as the front seats were for the whites, as was the law. Minding her own, James Blake, the bus driver, asked the first row of black men and women to get up and provide a seat for a white man, 3 of the boys stood up, but Rosa Parks refused to give in.
This act of defiance is part of one of the greatest stories ever crafted in the history of the world. Born to Leona McCauley on February 4th, 1913, Rosa Parks came into the world. Her family greatly valued education and were one of the few who had that opportunity. The segregation law discriminated against the Black community by denying them access to learning institutions.
Suffering chronic illness, Leona needed care and attention. Rosa Park’s grandmother required similar care, and Rosa took care of them till 19 when she was, betrothed to Raymond Parks, a self-educated barber 10 years her senior. The couple was highly regarded, in as high regard as a black could in those times in Montgomery society. A predominantly African American community was clawed down by ‘’Jim Crow,” which was the Black segregation law.
A law denying the Black community a seat or a spot in good restaurants to enjoy a hot meal on a cold day, a place in a good school, a space at the water fountain on a hot summer afternoon. A law drawing a thin line between the interaction a black and white man could have. A thin line Rosa Parks crossed, erased, and never looked back.
In December 1943, Rosa joined the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Alongside E.D Nixon, President of the Association who curved his name into the Rosa Parks legacy. Rosa was escorted by two police officers into custody, on that fateful day. She used her one call to contact her husband Raymond Parks. Like wild fire on dry land, the news of her rebellion spread across Montgomery, drawing the attention of E.D Nixon. For Nixon, this was a significant development that would place the validity of the segregation law on a weighing scale and test how legitimate it was. Speaking to Rosa and Mr. Parks, he pitched a well-crafted plan to bring more attention to the law. On Monday, December 5th, at midnight, over 35,000 flyers, were sent to the Black community asking for their support in a bus boycott on Rosa Parks court trial day.
None could have predicted the tumbleweed of events that followed next. An overwhelming number of people boycotted Montgomery Buses. The boycott was not an easy feat for the Black community after being silenced and oppressed for so long. It is a vision of pure defiance and resilience, an act of social rebellion.
Rosa was found guilty, got a suspended sentence, and was fined $10 and 4$ in court costs. With the outpour of support, Nixon appointed Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. New to Montgomery, and at 26 years old, he was to head Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to champion the movement.
The appeals eventually made it to the Supreme Court. Needless to say, the White community was outraged by the boycott. They violently bombed down Nixon and Mr. King’s homes. The retaliation piqued the interest of the National and International press. With bated breaths, they all waited for the verdict of the appeal. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled the segregation law unconstitutional. It was a momentous win for the Black community that Rosa Parks was named Mother of Civil Rights. What a day!
Up in arms regarding the ruling, the Whites harassed Rosa and her family, going as far as sending them death threats. Rosa and her family packed up and moved to Detroit. Mrs. Park’s husband and mother succumbed to cancer, leaving Rosa to keep fighting for the cause. Rosa went on to write an autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story, and, in 1999, she was honored with the Congregational Gold Medal. The highest honor in the U.S that a civilian can be awarded. She continued to passionately speak for the civil rights movement until her death on October 25, 2005, at 92 years.
Rosa Parks stands as the first Black woman to be honored at U.S Capitol. Parks defied the odds against her as a Black woman. “People always say that I did not give up my seat because I was tired,” wrote Parks in her autobiography. ‘But that is not true. I was not tired physically,’ No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Rosa had stood up 12 years earlier to the same driver on the same bus, but on that day, she chose to leave the bus. Twelve years later, she decided to stand up for herself as a black woman who deserved a seat.
Rosa Parks embodied the spirit and resilience of a black woman. She put up a fight for the Civil Rights Movement against segregation. She earned her place in history, where her story lives on and spurs countless others to stand for what is right, fair, and just.
