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THE 65th ANNIVERSARY OF –“NO”
ON DECEMBER 1, 1955– Rosa Parks, “Mother of the Freedom Movement”, ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. Did you know that Mrs. Parks wasn’t sitting in a “whites only” section? Did you know that Rosa Parks wasn’t the first black woman to be arrested for the same offense? – Enter Claudette Colvin. Have you ever heard of the Freedom Riders?
We invite you to explore our “ON THIS DAY: DECEMBER 1, 1955” weblink compilation; watch videos, debunk myths, read (or listen to) articles, and dive deeper into this 65th ANNIVERSARY OF “NO”
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- Memorial for Rosa Parks. “THE BUS STOP”
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- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama during the 1955 bus boycott. (National Archives)
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- Rosa Parks and U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Jr., picketing in front of General Motors corporate headquarters, Detroit, Michigan. [Detroit, Michigan]
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- “During the Montgomery bus boycott, we came together and remained unified for 381 days. It has never been done again. The Montgomery boycott became the model for human rights throughout the world.” – Rosa Parks
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- “When it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You cant sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, This is not right.” -Claudette Colvin
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- “I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other, saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.” – Claudette Colvin
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- Members of the Washington Freedom Riders Committee prepare to leave New York for Washington, D.C., on May 30, 1961.
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- More than 300 Freedom Riders were arrested… this just 12 of their mugshots
Weblinks:
- Debunk common Rosa Parks myths with the History Channel: History Stories: “10 Things You May Not Know About Rosa Parks”
- Watch (or listen to) the Rosa Parks Video Collection and get an inside view into Parks’ personal life and public work.
- Read (or listen to) the article Beyond the Bus: Rosa Parks’ Lifelong Struggle for Justice .
- Read more of Denver Post’s Icon a reluctant hero:
Over the years, myth tended to obscure the truth about Parks. One story had it that she was a cleaning woman with bad feet who was too tired to drag herself to the rear of the bus. Another had it that she was a “plant” by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The truth, as she later explained, was that she, like thousands of other blacks, was tired of being humiliated, of having to adapt to the Byzantine rules – some codified as law and others passed on as tradition – that reinforced the position of blacks as something less than full human beings
– The Denver Post
- Read the autobiography Rosa Parks: My Story available through your St. Clair County Library System.
- Meet Claudette Colvin, the 15 year old girl who was arrested before Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat on a bus.
- Listen to (or read) the NPR’s story: Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin
- Claudette Colvin’s Biography Twice Towards Justice available through your St. Clair County Library System
- Watch the Freedom Riders PBS documentary and learn about this brave group of men and women who came after Rosa Parks.