Brendan Landry

History Women – 4MWF

07 April 2020

Favorite Woman of History: Rosa Parks

It’s hard to believe that there was a space in the history of our world where there was no true

definition of time. There were no twenty-four-hour days, no seven-day weeks, no 365 days to a

year. However, as the planet rotated around the sun, people within the landscape of history

carved out the meaning of time.

Time: defined as the “indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past,

present, and future regarded as a whole.”1 Just like many other things known to our existence, we

know that the Egyptians are responsible for this definition of time and the knowledge

surrounding it. Every day we wake up we are somehow contributing to this historical base of

knowledge whether we take part knowingly or not. The ideologies and practices we add to

society can out live us and support many generations to come. It can also change the landscape

of a nation forever. Each generation that passes through the realm of time adds something that is

worth remembering.

During the “Greatest Generation,” our country gained one of the most important women

in American history, Rosa Parks, dubbed “the first lady of civil rights2.” Parks was born in

Tuskegee, Alabama in February 1913, a time which displayed the very basic foundations of our

country. At a young age, her parents separated forcing her to move to her grandparents’ farm in

1
“Time.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Accessed April 8, 2020. https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/time.

2
“Rosa Parks.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, April 8, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks.
Pine Level, Alabama. There she was a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

which was a well-known independent black church of the time3.

During the early 1900’s the landscape was very grim for people of color like Rosa,

specifically those of African-American descent. Laws were passed by white Americans which

imposed racial segregation giving anyone of color a massive disadvantage. These unfair laws

were known as Jim Crow laws.

Jim Crow laws truly displayed the worst of American society and how a nation so strong

could become so weak and impaired by an ignorant belief system. The laws that were put forth

and upheld by the U.S Supreme Court in 1896 provided for “separate but equal” public

facilities4. However, we now know that while the facilities were separated by race, they were not

equal in substance. The facilities for white Americans were far nicer than those for black

Americans, which truly wasn’t fair for something that wasn’t controllable by the individuals

these laws affected.

In 1955, during the peak of segregation, black America began to protest the racial

injustices in the country. These social protests were sparked by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who

was a well-known civil rights activist at the time. In Montgomery, Alabama the public

transportation rule was that the first ten seats of any bus were reserved for “whites” always.

Meanwhile, the remaining seats at the rear of the bus were reserved for “blacks.” If white folks

3
“Rosa Parks.” Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, February 4, 2020.
https://www.biography.com/activist/rosa-parks.

4
“Jim Crow Laws.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 22, 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws.
had already taken all seats on the bus, then black folks were required to stand. The general rule

was if a white person wanted your seat and you were black, you were required to give it up5.

On December 5th, 1955 outraged with how unfair things were, Rosa Parks decided to

stand up for herself. Parks was seated in the forward most row that blacks could be seated when

a white man boarded the bus. The bus driver instructed Mrs. Parks that she must give up her seat

for the white man and move to the back. Parks refused and was arrested for “failure to comply

with seating assignments6.” She was fined ten dollars and an additional four dollars for court

costs. Adjusted for inflation, in today’s time Rosa Parks would’ve paid $135.13 in total fines for

her protest.

Rosa Parks’ protest struck a chord across black America and began a social movement

known as the “Bus Boycott7.” The boycott was described as a time where black Americans like

Rosa Parks refused to ride busses altogether in protest of unfair treatment. This was a problem

for public transportation lines because black Americans made up 75 percent of the bus rider

rates8. This boycott lasted a full year and 16 days before the segregation laws of Montgomery

were declared unconstitutional9. A big win for black America, and a humongous win for Rosa

Parks who planted the seed.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott is the quintessential reason of why I have chosen Rosa

Parks as my favorite woman of history. She truly represents the greatest features of a woman:

5
Parks, Virginia. 2016. “Rosa Parks Redux: Racial Mobility Projects on the Journey to Work.” Annals of the
American Association of Geographers 106 (2): 292–99. doi:10.1080/00045608.2015.1100061. Rosa Parks Redux:
Racial Mobility Projects on the Journey

6,8,9
“Montgomery Bus Boycott.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, April 3, 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_bus_boycott#Rosa_Parks.

9
courage, faith, and assertiveness. Rosa took it upon herself to lead the change and be the change

that was needed to put America on the path to equal civil rights for all. Without Mrs. Parks’ help

and many others, black Americans could very well still be fighting for racial equality today.

I think this is also an important message to the generations of the present. If you feel like

your rights are being violated or infringed upon, speak up! The saying goes that just like muscles

in your body, “if you don’t use them they will slowly disappear.” The rights people have today

may no longer be so existent in fifty years if people do not protect them.

Rosa Parks instituted a new wave of racial justice and protected them until the day she

died. Unfortunately, she did not live to see the first black president among other amazing feats

for people of color. But she did live to see black children playing with white children in the

school yard, whites and blacks enjoying a neighborhood barbeque, among many other things.

The times have taken a change for the better and the country would never be the same if it wasn’t

for Rosa Louise McCauley Parks.

Bibliography

Carson, Clayborne. “American Civil Rights Movement .” Encyclopædia Britannica.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., February 4, 2020.

https://www.britannica.com/print/article/119368.

“Jim Crow Laws.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 22, 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws.

“Montgomery Bus Boycott.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, April 3, 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_bus_boycott#Rosa_Parks.

Parks, Virginia. 2016. “Rosa Parks Redux: Racial Mobility Projects on the Journey to Work.”

Annals of the American Association of Geographers 106 (2): 292–99.

doi:10.1080/00045608.2015.1100061. Rosa Parks Redux: Racial Mobility Projects on the

Journey

“Rosa Parks.” Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, February 4, 2020.

https://www.biography.com/activist/rosa-parks.

“Time.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Accessed April 8, 2020. https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/time.