“I don’t think I should have to stand up.”
Civil rights activist Rosa Parks has her name permanently engraved in America’s history. Words will never begin describing the amount of bravery Parks had December 1st 1955, the day that changed her life forever.
In 1900, laws passed saying that bus drivers could choose where and how to segregate their own buses. Over time, many bus drivers adapted the habit of delegating the back of the bus to the colored passengers. If the bus was empty however, most black people could sit wherever they wanted, but were expected to move if a whiter person was in need of a seat towards the front of the bus.
On a winter’s day, 42-year-old Rosa Parks took a seat towards the front of her normal Cleveland Avenue bus. After a few stops, the bus driver reported that seats began filling up. After the bus driver noticed white people standing in the aisles he requested four colored people to stand in the aisles so that the white passengers could sit.
3 of the 4 asked passengers complied, the one declining being Rosa Parks. When asked “Why don’t you stand up?” by the angry bus driver she merely replied, “I don’t think I should have to stand up.”
Shortly after, the police arrived and arrested the still sitting Parks and escorted her to police headquarters, where she was charged with a felony against Chapter 6, Section 11, of the Montgomery City Code of that time, and released on bail later the same night. Little did Parks know, her small refusal would be a spark towards the advancement for justice in the Montgomery area, even if it was just for the public transportation system.
The night of the bus incident, E.D. Nixon, the head of the local group of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) enthusiasts, started organizing a boycott of the Montgomery city buses, starting December 05 1955, the day of Park’s trial. The NAACP encouraged the local African Americans to take taxis, stay home, or even walk to work.
Even though Park was found guilty and charged $10 plus a $4 court fee, the boycott was a massive success. For months, the Montgomery buses remained near to empty and became “eyesores” due to the fact that several empty buses idled on the sides of roads day in and day out. This wasn’t the end however.
White radicals lashed back at the boycott, especially the two NAACP leaders, E.D. Nixon, and newcomer Martin Luther King Jr. Both men’s homes were destroyed by bombs, and several local black churches were burned to the ground. The local transportation income fund plummeted so local government officials cut off tax money going towards the taxi system colored people were using.
Even though she didn’t solve all of the racial problems in her day, Rosa Parks became a source of inspiration for civil rights that has impacted the years since.
