A tribute to civil rights leader Rosa Parks

With a simple act of courage Mrs. Rosa Parks sparked the biggest movement of social change in American history.

In his message of condolences, President George W. Bush said Mrs. Parks transformed America for the better. He described her as one of the most inspiring women of the 20th century.

“Fifty years ago in Montgomery, Ala., this humble seamstress stood up to injustice by refusing a bus driver’s order to give up her seat for a white man,” Bush said in an Associated Press report. “Her show of defiance was an act of personal courage that moved millions, including a young preacher named Martin Luther King.”

Mrs. Parks’ refusal to give up a bus seat to a white man in 1955 was a major contribution to the modern day civil rights movement. Her defiance prompted African-Americans led by King to boycott the Montgomery Bus Service for more than a year.

Mrs. Parks said she was surprised by the results of her actions.

“At the time I was arrested. I had no idea it would turn into this,” Mrs. Parks recalled. “It was just a day like any other, the thing that made it significant was that the masses of people joined in.”

The bus boycott caused the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling that declared Montgomery segregated seating laws unconstitutional, according to the Associated Press.

Before the repealing of the laws, seating in buses was divided into black and white sections. Blacks sat in the back seats and whites in front.

Mrs. Parks’ actions had a significant impact across the world. News about her defiance helped inspire movements against colonialism in Africa. The news also inspired a major revolution against the brutal apartheid rule in South Africa where white settlers had banished African natives into unproductive land settlements.

Mrs. Parks was a high-profile campaigner against apartheid in South Africa according to the BBC.

Her defiance had a positive effect on all races in America. She opened our eyes to the mundane evils committed under the blessings of the law. Really, why was bus seating a big deal? It’s not as if the people sitting in the front arrived to their destination faster than the ones in the back seats.

Mrs. Parks’ defiance did not come without consequences. She was unable to find a job in Alabama and she was forced to move to Detroit after threats were made against her and her husband.

Mrs. Parks became a widow in 1977, and in memory of her husband she started the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in 1987. The goal of the institute was to develop leadership skills among Detroit youth.

Born Rosa Louise McCauley on Feb. 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Ala., Mrs. Parks graduated from the all-African American Booker T. Washington High School in 1928 and she attended Alabama State College in Montgomery for a short time.

She became involved with the National Association of Advancement of Colored People organization after she married Raymond Parks in 1932.

In 1996, Mrs. Parks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States according to the BBC.

Throughout her life, Mrs. Parks showed a keen interest in the lives of the youth. She was worried that youth were taking the rights gained from the civil rights efforts for granted. She urged black youth to study and understand their heritage.

She had a message for the world.

“I’m leaving this legacy to all of you,” Mrs. Parks said in 1988 according to a BBC report. “To bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be.

“Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die—the dream of freedom and peace.”

Her legacy challenges the new generation to keep the older generation’s civil rights gains alive.

Mrs. Parks is an icon who will go down in history as a symbol of courage and great will.

Mrs. Parks died in sleep Monday at her home in Detroit, she was 92.

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