Rosa Parks - The First Lady of CIVIL RIGHTS!

- G.S.Subramanian

You are sitting in a bus. Someone comes and asks you to vacate the seat. You refuse. This might seem a simple incident; but you would have created a history – if you were Rosa Parks!

Rosa Parks was tried for the crime – refusing to give up her seat to a white man in a city bus. It was this apparently simple act of courage that resulted in her being called 'The first lady of civil rights' and 'The mother of Civil Rights Movement'. This incident happened at Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, USA.

Wonder why she is praised so much for a single refusal? Let’s go into details.

Those days in Alabama racism prevailed and all aspects of civil life were racially segregated by law. City buses, public schools, roads and many other facilities were separated between blacks and whites. Blacks had to sit at the back of the bus and were expected to give up their seats to whites when required.

It was December 1,1955. Rosa Parks was travelling in a bus, sitting in the ‘coloured’ section. More whites had boarded and Rosa Parks was asked to give up her seat. She refused. The driver of the bus threatened – ‘If you do not stand up, I shall call the police and have you arrested”. Rosa Parks had the courage to say "you may do that".

Rosa Park’s courage led to a boycott of all city buses by the blacks. This boycott, led by Martin Luther King’s junior, was widely reported. This encouraged African Americans to press for civil rights in other fields also. In November 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on the buses of Montgomery was illegal.

However due to her act of antagonizing the authorities, Rosa Parks and her husband lost their jobs and had to move to Detroit. But Rosa Parks did not remain silent. She began her campaign for civil rights. In 1996 she was awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1999, she received the Congressional Gold Medal!