Day 50: Civil Rights

Today marks the 55th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement.  This was a period in our country's history where men and women fought, and achieved, the rights to have safety, to not be discriminated against because of skin color, gender, religion, or age.  To have the right of freedom of speech, and the right to vote.  We have come a long way since 1955.  No longer does race determine which bathroom you will use, or the door you will enter through.  No longer is voting a right given to only white men.  No longer are employers allowed to discriminate against applicants or employees.  We all have civil rights and liberties, protected by the law and government, which are irrevocable.  

Rosa Parks was one of those notable figures, who helped ignite the start of the civil rights movement.  It was her courageous decision, that, on this day 55 years ago, sparked a series of events that would eventually lead to desegregation and would restore voting rights to African Americans.  A portion of her story is transcribed below, taken from www.rosaparksfacts.com.    

"The final straw came December 1st, 1955 as Rosa rode the bus home from her job at the Montgomery Fair Department Store. Rosa boarded the bus, paid her fare, and sat down in the first row behind the seats reserved for the whites. This was in the eleventh row and almost in the middle of the bus. Coincidentally, the same bus driver who had thrown her off of the bus 13 years earlier (James F. Blake) was driving the bus that day. The bus made its way along its route and the seats reserved for whites only began to fill up. When all of the seats were full, and there were still three whites standing the bus driver moved toward the back of the bus and demanded that four black people relinquish their seats to the white people. One crucial and often misinterpereted fact about this incident is that Mrs. Parks was in fact sitting in the first row of the section reserved for blacks.

In her autobiography, Rosa told how, when the driver was issuing his demands, she just wanted to protect herself and her rights. The three black men near her moved, but Rosa just scooted over towards the window seat. The bus driver then asked her why she did not get up and move and she told him that she did not feel that she should have to.

In her autobiography, Parks wrote,

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true.  I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day.  I was not old, although some have an image of me as being old then.  I was forty-two.  No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.  I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.  Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it."

The bus driver then proceeded to call the police, who subsequently arrested Rosa. It is important to note here that in 1900, the city of Montgomery, Alabama had passed a city ordinance that allowed drivers to segregate their passengers by race. If necessary, they could assign specific seats. The law, however, stated that no passengers were to be forced to give up a seat or stand should the bus become too crowded. The passage of time, and increased prejudices had allowed that part of the law to become lax and drivers were now in the habit of forcing blacks to move, stand or depart the bus if a white person needed a seat.

Rosa was arrested for taking her stand.  The police charged her with violating the part of the Montgomery City code that dealt with segregation law, even though she had not technically violated the law.  The ironic part of her arrest was that as the officer was taking her away she asked why the police would take part in such wrong behavior.  His answer amazed her when he said, "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."  Parks states in her autobiography that, as she rode away in the police car, she determined that this would be the last time she would suffer humiliation of this kind.

"I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for.  It was just time...there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner.  I had not planned to get arrested.  I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail.  But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long." (Quote from a 1992 interview with National Public Radio's Lynn Neary.)"

Today we are far better off than we were 55 years ago.  I am grateful to live in a country where we have freedoms.  However, I know that injustices still exists, and equality still has road to travel before the discrepancies can be minimized.  But thankfully there are the Rosa Parks out there, who have courage, who will take a stand, and never rest as long as there are injustices to be righted. 


Twitter Updates – Follow Good News for Isla on Twitter.
RSS Subscription – Subscribe to Good News for Isla via RSS in a reader.
Email Updates – Sign up for email updates.