NRIs
Mourns the Death of Rosa Parks
Oct. 30, 2005
NRI press
NRIs (non-resident Indians) Mourns the Death of Rosa
Parks, Mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement
and Longtime Alabama NAACP Worker
Gary Singh of NRI association.com for the Advancement
of NRI People, today said the death of Rosa Park,
92, on Monday marked the sad end of an era. Rosa Parks
served as an inspiration to generations of African
Americans and all people of good will and is symbolic
of the thousands of courageous NAACP workers who fight
for civil rights in their communities.”
She was truly the mother of the modern civil rights
movement. She was NAACP Secretary in Montgomery when
she sat down in order to stand up for civil rights,
and her quiet example demonstrated to millions new
ways to confront the evil of segregation.”
Parks became famous nearly 50 years ago when she
refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery,
Alabama city bus. Her act of defiance on December
1, 1955 sparked the Montgomery bus boycott that brought
the late Dr. Martin Luther King to prominence.
Rosa Parks, Mother
of the Civil Rights Movement
Rosa "Lee" Louise Parks (February 4, 1913
– October 24, 2005) was an African American seamstress
whom the United States Congress called the Mother
of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement. She is most
famous for her refusal in 1955 to give up a bus seat
to a white man when ordered to do so by the bus driver,
provoking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her role in
American history earned her an iconic legacy in American
culture and worldwide civil rights movements.
Mrs. Rosa Parks, born on February 4, 1913, has been
called the "mother of the civil rights movement"
and one of the most important citizens of the 20th
century.
On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give
up her seat near the front of a Montgomery, Alabama
city bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had
her arrested for violating the law. Photo of Mrs.
Parks at the height of the Civil Rights Movement
"Differences of race, nationality or religion
should not be used to deny any human being citizenship
rights or privileges."
By "sitting down" for what she believed
in, and refusing to give up her bus seat, Mrs. Parks
made history. The following night, fifty leaders of
the Negro community (among them was the young minister,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) met to discuss the issue.
The leaders organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott that
would continue until the bus segregation laws were
changed. The citywide boycott of the bus system by
blacks, in which they refused to use the bus for transportation,
lasted for 382 days. It caused the bus company to
lose a huge amount of money -- and changed America
forever.
In December of 1956, the Supreme Court decided that
bus segregation violated the constitution. The Civil
Rights Movement was put into motion, which led to
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today all Americans,
whatever their race, nationality, or religion, must
be given equal treatment under the law.
"I felt just resigned to give what I could to
protect against the way I was being treated."
Mrs. Parks's mother was a school teacher and taught
her at home until the age of eleven. She then attended
Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, and later
Booker T. Washington High School. Both of these schools
were for African-American students only. Mrs. Rosa
Parks became used to obeying the "blacks only"
or "whites only" rules of the segregation
laws, but found them humiliating.
When she was twenty, Rosa married Raymond Parks,
a barber. She attended Alabama State College, worked
as a seamstress and housekeeper, and was active in
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) and the Montgomery Voters League. The
Voters League was a group that helped black citizens
pass the many tests that had been set up to make it
hard for them to register as voters. In 1943 she was
elected Secretary of the NAACP Montgomery Chapter.
In 1955, the year of her famous bus incident, Mrs.
Parks was forty-two years old, and was very well respected
in the black community. But long before that day,
she fought segregation in her own way. She walked
up the stairs of a building rather than riding in
an elevator marked "blacks only." She went
home thirsty instead of drinking from the "colored
only" water fountain. And, Mrs. Parks preferred
to walk home from work whenever possible to avoid
sitting in the "blacks only" section in
the back of the city bus.
"I didn't have any special fear. It was more
of a relief to know that I wasn't alone."
During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Mrs. Parks and
her family received threats and were continually harrassed.
She was fired from her job as a seamstress, but didn't
budge in her efforts to fight for racial equality.
In 1957 she and her husband moved to Detroit, Michigan,
where she again took in sewing and also worked as
a fundraiser for the NAACP. In 1965 she was hired
by Congressman John Conyers, Jr., also a civil rights
leader, to manage his Detroit office. She and her
husband remained active in the NAACP and the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
After the death of her husband in 1987, she founded
the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development,
which offers guidance to young blacks and sponsors
an annual summer program, called Pathways to Freedom.
The program enables young people from many different
ethnic backgrounds to tour the country in buses, under
adult supervision, and learn the history of their
country and of the civil rights movement. The purpose
of the Institute is to motivate and direct kids to
achieve their highest potential, and to teach more
people about important issues that affect the future
of the world.
" It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan
activity and racism. I think when you say you're happy,
you have everything that you need and everything that
you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven't
reached that stage yet."
Mrs. Rosa Parks' courage, determination, and her
continued efforts to make Americans aware of the history
of the civil rights struggle serve as important reminders.
Today, the shocking "blacks only" and "whites
only" laws of the past remind us that the fight
for civil rights, racial equality, and freedom are
not quite over. Although we have come a long way,
Mrs. Parks' inner strength, leadership, and Girl Power!
against all odds remind us -- and inspire us -- that
there is still much progress to be made.
Honors and Awards
Here are some of Mrs. Parks' many honors and awards:
Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
NAACP's Spingarn Medal (1970)
Martin Luther King Jr. Award (1980)
Honorary degree from Shaw College
Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize
Southern Christian Leadership Conference Annual Rosa
Parks Freedom Award
