Thoughts on Rosa Parks

[Goodbook]

In history shes a role model or heroine and also a christian.
Now I'd like to know what others esp americans think of her and her actions.

 

[Goodbook]

The wiki on her is quite long but Im going to borrow her autobiography to get her side of the story...we are meant to be teaching what she did in our bible class.

One of the values is to stop bullying and to stand (or rather sit) up for what is right although in the bible its the righteous who will not be moved.

When I was in school we did not learn about Rosa Parks as we did not cover american history just nz history mostly and english. Actually I dont recall learning anything about the USA in school. A lot of what I know of their history is just from tv or books like Gone with the wind. So to get a modern day american perspective would be helpful.

Btw her testimony and the impact of her actions to me was far reaching. And very brave.

 

[Goodbook]

Ok I guess nobody else has heard of her then.
Alrighty.

I suppose people on here don't ride public transport either.

 

[Kenny'sID]

In history shes a role model or heroine and also a christian.
Now I'd like to know what others esp americans think of her and her actions.

This American thinks just as you do...one heck of a gal.

 

[Goodbook]

Its interesting to read how she said no and wouldnt be bullied and then everyone else, even if they werent african american started walking to work with her...for 381 days!

She got arrested and she lost her job BUT the people stood with her. I think thats amazing. And then the law got changed, as I said before some of those US laws are or were screwy. I cant imagine how the african americans felt not being able to sit anywhere on the bus and being treated like that.

 

[Goodbook]

When I use public transport im always aware how friendly the bus drivers are even though its not always an easy job. My dads dream job would be to be a train driver but hes got the next best thing. I cant imagine him ever telling the children who get on the tram oh you have to give up your seat if you come from a different country or your skin colour is different.

But it was a problem with the law not the bus driver per se. Sometimes silly laws are made to be broken....

 

[Cearbhall]

She's viewed as the person whose actions really got the ball rolling for the Civil Rights Movement. She's also a prime example of the peaceful tactics that made the movement so successful.

Here's a fun telling of what went down:

 

[Goodbook]

I think the children were encouraged by this story to be brave. God gave Rosa Parks the courage to say no.

She reminds me of Moses. She could have gotten up and continued to be bullied but her action meant nobody else had to be bullied either.

 

[blackribbon]

The actual bus is in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Michigan.

 

[keith99]

I think a lot of the reason her actions were so effective is she had no political ideas in mind at the time. She was just too damn tired to get up and move.

 

[rturner76]

I think the children were encouraged by this story to be brave. God gave Rosa Parks the courage to say no.

She reminds me of Moses. She could have gotten up and continued to be bullied but her action meant nobody else had to be bullied either.

Rosa Parks kicked off what would come to be known as the Civil Rights Era. The organization and network that was put together in order to make the bus strike a success was crucial to the formation of the picket lines ans organized sit ins at segregated lunch counters where they would not seat/serve people of color. Laws were changed,lunch counters were opened, buses were de segregated. The press they got brought the story nation and even world wide. Bringing attention to the struggles in the south to the middle class white families in the North via television was critical to the struggle. As was the enlistment of Northern white college students to the protests. When those same families saw the dogs being set on those white young men and women, they demanded change all over the country. Also the murders of those same students during the "Freedom Rides" where blacks sat in the white sections of segregated buses only to be arrested and beaten. America had enough and the Civil Rights Bill was passed eliminating the color lines permanently. No longer would there be a white and a colored water fountain or restroom but the same rights for everybody. Enforcing the law however proved difficult in some of the small towns in the south where the local police was used to doing things the old way. Slowly those people were forced to move aside for civil rights and it has gotten better ever since.
That is a quick hack explanation of the civil rights struggle Rosa Parks started.

 

[blackribbon]

Interesting enough that as the same time that there was a black and white water fountain in the southern states, my friend remembers stores and water fountains in Michigan during his childhood banning Jews. That struggle never made big news.

 

[keith99]

Interesting enough that as the same time that there was a black and white water fountain in the southern states, my friend remembers stores and water fountains in Michigan during his childhood banning Jews. That struggle never made big news.

Ironically it seems intimidation and murder of those trying to register blacks to vote in the South did not seem to get much coverage until two Jewish students from the North were murdered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers'_murders

 

[blackribbon]

Basically it shows that humans will always find a reason to discriminate and repress someone different than themselves in some way or another. The Irish also had a pretty hard time and it is still has lingering evidence in the anti-"ginger" mentally.

 

[Goodbook]

Rosa Parks kicked off what would come to be known as the Civil Rights Era. The organization and network that was put together in order to make the bus strike a success was crucial to the formation of the picket lines ans organized sit ins at segregated lunch counters where they would not seat/serve people of color. Laws were changed,lunch counters were opened, buses were de segregated. The press they got brought the story nation and even world wide. Bringing attention to the struggles in the south to the middle class white families in the North via television was critical to the struggle. As was the enlistment of Northern white college students to the protests. When those same families saw the dogs being set on those white young men and women, they demanded change all over the country. Also the murders of those same students during the "Freedom Rides" where blacks sat in the white sections of segregated buses only to be arrested and beaten. America had enough and the Civil Rights Bill was passed eliminating the color lines permanently. No longer would there be a white and a colored water fountain or restroom but the same rights for everybody. Enforcing the law however proved difficult in some of the small towns in the south where the local police was used to doing things the old way. Slowly those people were forced to move aside for civil rights and it has gotten better ever since.
That is a quick hack explanation of the civil rights struggle Rosa Parks started.

Thanks for the info...let me get this straight, some black people got murdered? For sitting in the white section of the bus?

I had heard that in south africa, where there was apartheid the same sort of thing happened. But i dont know if they had someone like Rosa Parks, it was Nelson Mandela who was put in jail...

 

[Goodbook]

Also question, in the north part of the usa there were no african americans originally is that correct? They were all enslaved in the south?

After this happened or slavery was banned they could move north and settle?

Because north and south were originally two different countries is that right? The confederacy and ...not sure what the other one was called. And then after the civil war the two became the united states of america.

Sorry if im a bit hazy as we didnt learn about usa in history. If theres a good history website on it maybe someone can recommend me to read that would be helpful,.

 

[Goodbook]

Hmm not sure if it was a bus strike more of a bus boycott.

I cant believe someone then preserved this horrible bus in a musuem. Im sure all those signs saying no negroes here or coloured this or that got destroyed or taken down.

Although I havent been to the south of the USA to really see...maybe they are still there I dont know.

So with this civil rights struggle would americans say stuff is still going down, I hear about shootings in america all the time on the news that are race related.

 

[tatteredsoul]

I think a lot of the reason her actions were so effective is she had no political ideas in mind at the time. She was just too damn tired to get up and move.

I was going to say the contrary. The reason it was a big deal was because she was actually part of a civil right national affiliation that garnered enough publicity to make a big deal about it. This was almost a purposeful protest - knowing if they touched Rosa, they would be under fire because of her connections. I don't think she was necessarily a social revolutionary.

Sort of how there are plenty of educated, passionate and trustworthy black males who care about civil rights, but for some reason people only look to AL Sharpton.

There were other people refusing to go to the back; they were arrested, brutalized or worse.

It doesn't take anything from the movement. In fact, it makes it apparent how degenerate the times were that a civil rights organization had to stage such a dangerous situation with the gamble of a hope of things turning out the way they did (i.e. they didn't treat Rosa like any other "n***er")

 

[Goodbook]

? Not sure I understand tatteredsoul.
Rosa Parks didnt intend to start something this big she just didnt want to be bullied anymore.

I think the way people stood with her and walked to work when she got banned from the bus or whatever was amazing, and for sure they did it for so long that the bus company started losing business.

And walking to work in the cold rain and snow every day cant be easy. Especially if you live quite far away.

 

[Goodbook]

I dont know who al sharpton is sorry.