Research Paper: Rosa Parks

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Pages: 5

The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement Rosa Parks is one of the most famous people in the history of the American Civil Rights movement, for her refusal to “move to the back of the bus” on December 1, 1955. Although her moment of protest was not a planned event , it certainly proved to be a momentous one. The nature of Rosa Park’s protest, the response of the authorities of Montgomery, the tactics adopted by the civil rights leaders in Montgomery, and the role eventually played by Federal authority, were all aspects of this particular situation that were to be repeated again and again in the struggle for equality of race. Rosa Parks’ action, and the complex combination of events that followed, in some measure, foreshadowed a great deal of …show more content…
When white seats were no longer available, the colored were to give up their seats. Rosa Parks didn't move. She stayed seated. She was tired of giving in to the white people. The bus driver asked Rosa for her seat several times, but she kept refusing. The driver then threatened to have her arrested. That threat didn't frighten her. She only responded, "You may do that." Consequently, two white policemen came, and placed Rosa Parks under arrest. Park’s act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement. The aftermath of Park’s arrest resulted in an immediate one-day long bus boycott. Losing 75 percent of their riders turned out to be very detrimental to the finances of the public bus companies and twelve and a half months later, the boycott was finally over. New laws went into place that ended segregation on public buses. In an autobiography of Rosa Parks, she explains that: “You can’t imagine the rejoicing among black people, and some white people, when the Supreme Court decision came down in May 1954, Parks enthused in her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story. It was a very hopeful time.” (“Parks” 1.) These new laws brought angry outcries