rough but finished rosa parks essay --bri

Briana Daoust

5.5.11

3/4

Rosa Parks Fight For Segregation

“At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this, ... It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.” (Rosa Parks) Rosa Parks was born as Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. She died on October 24, 2005; she was diagnosed with progressive dementia in 2004. Rosa Parks had a hard background mainly because of her race. However, because of what she stood up for, a lot of things changed in our world. She started a major chain reaction.

Rosa Parks had a harder childhood than most white people in that time period because of segregation. Rosa was sick much of the time because of the lack of medicine and therefore was a smaller child. When her parents eventually separated, her mother moved her and her brother from Tuskegee, Alabama, to a little town called, Pine Level in Alabama. There, she lived on her grandparents’ farm. She was very religious and believed in God greatly. Rosa did not attend a public school until she was eleven; before that her mother home schooled her. She then attended the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery. Rosa took various vocational and academic courses. As her secondary course she took a laboratory class. Although, Rosa never completed her laboratory course there because her grandmother was becoming ill. Rosa’s childhood life was greatly influenced by the Jim Crow laws of the south, which segregated white people from the blacks in most every day life. "Segregation...not only harms one physically but injures one spiritually...It scars the soul...It is a system which forever stares the segregated in the face, saying 'You are less than...' 'You are not equal to...” (Martin Luther King Jr.) He was another black fighting for the same thing Rosa Parks stood up for. Public buses were offered to blacks as long as they sat in the back, and there was enough room for all whites. “Rosa recalls her grandfather standing at the front door of the farmhouse with a loaded shotgun in his hand while he watched as the Ku Klux Klan marched down their street. As frightening as this was to her as a little girl, it taught her much about the very real prejudices against blacks in American culture.” (autobiography of Rosa Parks) This riot showed Rosa about the real danger she could get into as an African American. She then married a Montgomery barber in 1932 and became Mrs. Raymond Parks. He helped her to become a fighter and she joined his group for standing up for blacks. That was just one other way she helped to even out blacks and whites.

Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed in and it started a chain reaction. “She was on a bus, which during those times black people had to give up their seats if a white person wanted it. Most black people would have to sit in the back and without a seat, and when someone came and wanted the seat, she said No. They called the police and she was arrested.” (From wikipedia source) Someone as brave as her, should be proud o go to prison for standing up for herself. “This news was heard by Martin Luther King Jr. who rallied many people to start a petition by not riding the buses. Eventually, the bus transportation went very low on money that they decided they would allow white and black people to be able to sit wherever they want on the bus.” (From a wikipedia source) Just one action can lead to many others and that point is showed by Martin Luther King Jr.; but wouldn’t have happened without Rosa Parks standing up for herself.

Rosa Parks had a huge impact on the world, including the Montgomery bus boycott. “Rosa Parks wasn't the first African-American person to refuse to give up her seat when asked; but, she was the perfect person to put forth as a poster girl for the cause. The civil rights movement was infused by the Montgomery bus boycott. Her actions and the leaderships decision to boycott the buses made a huge impact on the local economy and forced the hand of the law makers to make changes in the laws.” (Wikepedia source) By her standing up for what she believed in, she made a difference in her time period. In our time period, she helped to make other colored men and women be able to be completely equal with the whites. Without her, there's a chance we would still be segregated and have the beliefs that whites used to. She made a huge change in our world today and her name is famous because of her not giving up her seat.

Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913 by the name of Rosa Louise McCauley, and died in October 13, 2005. She had a hard background given her race and segregation. However, she was one of the many blacks who stood up for segregation and now she has made a huge impact in the U.S. To her, the day she got arrested, was just any other ordinary day.