Rosa Parks
The date was December 1st 1955 and Mrs Parks had just got onto the bus; she was tired after a long day of work. It was 6 p.m. and Rosa Parks had just finished her job as a seamstress at Montgomery Fair department store, she then boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to get home.
She paid her fare and sat in the front row of black seats resevered for 'coloured' people, in the middle of the bus right behind the last row of seats for white passengers.
She didn't notice that the bus driver was the same one who had left her in the rain two years ago. As the bus drove through its route the 'white passengers only' seats on the bus filled up. The bus reached its third stop outside the Empire Theater and several white passengers boarded.
The bus driver James F. Blake noticed that the white only seats were filled and that three white men were standing. So he moved the coloured sign back and row and ordered 4 black people to move. Buses did have a policy that there would be different sections for black and white people, so that no person would have to give up their seat,but over time Montgomery bus drivers picked up the practice of making black people move when there wer no white seats left.
The bus driver said "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." No one moved in the beginning but the bus driver repeated his question and three people complied. The person next to Rosa Parks moved out of his seat, and Mrs Parks did move to the middle of the 'coloured' section but towards the window seat.
Parks was making a stand, she was tired. No more tired than at the end of a usual working day, but tired of giving up. She thought of her family and her husband, about how strong they were and refused to move.
Blake asked her if she was going to move, and she politely replied that she would not. To this he told her that he would call the police, which he did. Parks was arrested on that bus in front of everyone, but she held her head up high, she was testing her rights as a human being and a citezen of Montgomery.
Rosa Parks was charged with sitting in a white only seat, though technically she had not. She was bailed out that evening and was persuaded to use her case to challenge the bus segregation.
Four days later Mrs Rosa Parks was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance. The trial lasted half an hour, she was found guilty and was fined $10 and $4 in court costs.
Rosa Parks did appeal beliveing that her appeal to the fine might "mean something to Montgomery and do some good," And of course, it did.
By Essi Turkson
8S