Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who played a major role in the desegregation, to promote equal rights for white and African American people in the United States. During the 1900s, segregation was becoming an increasingly serious problem in the South. There were separate bathrooms, water fountains, restaurants, schools, and other public places for blacks and whites. Rosa Parks had a strong impact on America due to her courage in a segregated America, impact on the NAACP, and legacy as a prominent black female leader in the desegregation movement.
The Jim Crow Laws of 1890 were laws that restricted the rights of African Americans. During this time, everything from water fountains to schools were segregated.
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Due to the segregation laws, the NAACP was trying to come up with no violent protest/marches to show how they want equal rights like the whites, so they came up with boycotts. As many people said “The boycott technique became an effective tool because it brought economic distress and social disruption to Southern cities deeply entrenched in the Jim Crow tradition of segregation. Boycotts gave African Americans a direct and aggressive way of confronting the ills of social injustice (Brooks 2).” These boycotts were extremely effective and allowed the African Americans to walk away knowing that their message was clearly portrayed. The Jim Crow Laws affected Rosa Parks especially, she grew up around segregation, she went to a school designated to African Americans and she watched the Klu Klux Klan walk around her community regularly. Rosa Parks lived in a segregated part of the South for over half of her life that she had said “allowed white people to treat black people without any respect (Marks-Ellis 1).” She went to a school strictly for African Americans only. She experienced many differences between the black and white school quickly. Blacks had to heat their own schools and had to build them, whereas white school were funded by the state. Blacks had no transportation to school and only attended school for five months, while whites could attend school up to nine months, allowing them to receive a much better education. Not only did Rosa experience segregation at school but she grew up at home with a family history. Rosa’s grandfather was a Scots-Irishman who migrated to the United States and married an African slave and they had six children while they were slaves. While Rosa was growing up to listened to numerous stories about slavery, segregation, and the Klu Klux Klan. Due to her childhood she knew she wanted to the one to help make a change: “Parks’s outlook on discrimination and segregation was influenced by family stories, her times at the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, and her experiences as a child. She detested the plight of black and the advantages whites possessed, often at the expense of African Americans (Marks-Ellis 3).” Her history with segregation influenced her to stand up for the African American population. On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks got on a city bus after a long day of working as a seamstress at a Montgomery department store. The bus driver James Black, who she had not got along with in the past, welcomed her on the bus and took her fare. After Parks’ sat down in the area designated for African Americans, the bus driver asked her and three others to move back a few rows so that a white man could sit down because there was no more seats available in his section. The three other African Americans’ gave up their seats with no problem, but Parks’ refused to give up her seat to a white man. The bus driver told her that if she did not move from her seat that he would have to call the police. When the police arrived, they arrested Parks’ and charged her with violating the segregation ordinance and fined $10. Parks’ arrest enacted a bus boycott that they had planned when the same thing that happened to Rosa happened to a high school student. Rosa Parks' courage in a segregated America had a major impact on the desegregation movement. Parks said that it was planned that she would not move from her seat and get arrested (Boyd 2). After Parks was arrested, her actions led to the start of a bus boycott that the NAACP and the Women's Political Council had been planning for months because the same thing happened to a high schooler a few months before. Due to the start of the bus boycott and the involvement of the Parks family, Rosa and her husband put their entire lives at risk. Rosa lost her job, she received numerous death threats, her husband, Raymond, had to quit his job at the Air Force base because of negative conversations about his wife. Raymond began smoking and drinking heavily causing family within their family, the Parks’ white landlord kept raising their rent so they would not be able to afford to live at their home. They became unemployable because everyone knew about Rosa’s refusal to give up her seat and did not want someone like her working for them (Ross, Crowther, and Bradley 2). Despite the many difficulties she faced, Rosa continued to show strength to fight for equality between white and African American people. Rosa stood up to all of the negativity that was directed toward her after her refusal to get up from her seat: “People said that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired. But that isn’t true. I was not physically tired , or no more than tired than I am at the end of a work day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was 42. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in (Boyd 42).” Others were saying rude things that were not true to come up with random reasons why she refused to get up from her seat, such as she was too old and tired. Rosa decided to go to trial to put an end to segregation for her and the other 50,000 African Americans in her own community (Boyd 3). Her courage and actions strengthened the Civil Rights Movement against the Jim Crow Laws, especially by working with organizations fighting segregation. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an African American civil rights organization which Rosa Parks significantly impacted through her actions and influence.
The NAACP was formed from a small committee of signers to a fight against the poor treatment towards African Americans and the end segregation in America. The NAACP worked extra hard towards implementing the civil rights act for housing, transportation, employment, voting, schools, and recreation. After her refusal to get up from her seat, Rosa Parks became the Secretary of the Montgomery NAACP and the Youth Council Advisor. Her husband was also an active member of the NAACP (McPherson and Gerstle 2). She devoted a significant amount of her free time into fundraising for the NAACP in order to keep pushing for desegregation. She worked extra hard for the right to vote for African Americans (NAACP …show more content…
2). Rosa Parks left behind an unforgettable legacy to all of America. Rosa continues to influence society today even after the bus boycott ended. Others have said: “Parks’ legacy includes being hailed as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement by the U.S.
Congress. She received innumerable awards but maintained that she was unaccustomed to being a public person (Marks-Ellis 2).”
Rosa symbolized encouragement for many people around America, especially in the South. She symbolized freedom for African Americans and a leader because her and many other African American Civil Rights activists were the start to change that caused us to all be equal. To the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks became, and still is very memorable because of her courage, hardwork, and persistence to making America closer to achieving racial equality.
Rosa Parks was honored numerous awards due to her courageous actions towards the desegregation movement. Some of her awards include the Spingarn Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal (McPherson and Gerstle 2), Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize, and the Eleanor Roosevelt Women of Courage Award (Marks-Ellis 7). She received over ten honorary degrees, and became known as a national treasure and symbol. Not only did she receive many awards, but on February 28th, 1991, the Smithsonian Institution unveiled a bust of her (Marks-Ellis 7). Rosa did not let her legacy stop her efforts; she continued to put in countless hours and help raise funds for the NAACP. She was an active member of her church and of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which sponsored the Rosa
Parks Freedom Award. Today, her legacy lives on. On a local level, there are many streets named after her. On the global stage, she was inducted into the International Women’s Hall of Fame. Rosa Parks left a forever lasting impact on America before her death in 2005. Rosa Parks left a strong and forever lasting influence on America due to her courage in a segregated America, impact on the NAACP, and her legacy as a prominent black female leader in the desegregation movement. Rosa Parks’ actions aided the Civil Rights Movement against the Jim Crow Laws and racial inequality (Journal of Blacks In Higher Education 3). After Parks’ bold actions, The Montgomery Bus Boycott announced a new conviction to nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience (Brown and Stentiford 2). After the Bus Boycott ended, the Jim Crow Laws were ruled unconstitutional. This meant blacks and whites were able to sit where ever they wanted on buses, and ended legal segregation of restaurants, schools, water fountains, and other public places. America’s advances in desegregation was due to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, outlawed discrimination in employment based on sex, race or national origin, and desegregated school (Brown and Stentiford 2). Rosa Parks’ brave actions led to her courage, boldness, and leadership that we remember today.
Rosa Parks was a African American woman who sat in the front of the bus after a long hard day at work. As she traveled on the bus back home, a Caucasian male approached and asked her to get up from her seat to go to the back of the bus because he wanted to sit there. Instead of avoiding the trouble and just going to the back of the bus, she decided to stay where she was . Due to the time period, because of her not giving her seat up to the gentlemen, she was arrested and charged with civil disobedience. After her arrest was made a boycott would ensue
On the website “www.rosaparksfacts.com” it’s stated that Parks has won/ received in total 5 award and also stated her top 10 achievements. Rosa list of 5 award are in 1979 the Spingarn Medal, in 1995 the Golden plate award , in 1996 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1999 the Congressional Gold Medal , and in 2000 the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Parks has outstanding, amazing awards due to her dignity and intelligence. First Of all, the spingarn medal in 1979 was given to Rosa parks due to honour “the man or woman of African descent and American citizenship who have made the highest achievement during the preceding year or years in any honorable field.” Second, in 1995 the Golden Plate award was given to Parks due to her actions in the citywide boycott of the bus system by African Americans that lasted more than a year.Third, in 1996 parks received the presidential medal of Freedom due to a meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. fourthly , Rosa Parks received the Congressional Gold medal in 1999 recognized as "a living icon for freedom in America" 44 years after she refused to give up her bus seat for a white man and was arrested. Last but not least, Parks received the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama award in 2000 due to her being in a Story in an
Between 1890 and 1910 they limited the rights of black people by passing their own laws which meant that blacks were forced to live separately from whites. These laws were known as The Jim Crow Laws after a line in a plantation song sung by the slaves. Blacks were forced to use separate hotels, transport and schools. were treated as second class citizens. In states where the laws had not changed, violence and intimidation were used to.
Rosa Parks did multiple things to relive the title upstander. She stood up for her rights, started a boycott, and changed the daily lives of people around her. The Montgomery bus boycott was inspired by Rosa Parks’ brave action to stand up for her rights, according to henryford.org. NAACP asked the African American community to stay off the buses in protest of the Rosa Parks arrest. Rosa Parks began to be known as the “the mother of the civil rights movement.”(History.com) Many people call her that because she started a revolution like no other
Blacks were discriminated almost every aspect of life. The Jim Crow laws helped in this discrimination. The Jim Crow laws were laws using racial segregation from 1876 – 1965 at both a social and at a state level.
The Jim Crow laws were laws used to separate the blacks and whites. “Jim Crow is discrimination against a racial group other than white, and especially against the Negro in the southland by either legal enforcement or traditional sanctions” (Worsmer, Richard). Most White people believed that they were superior over all of the other races, and they thought this because they were raised to learn that. But that still gives them no excuse
After many years, the African Americans demanded for their freedom and equality with white people. As a result, the white Americans created the Jim Crow system. The Jim Crow laws were racial segregation laws and used from 1876 to 1965 in the United States. The laws used to organize life between African Americans and white people. The system was dealing with African Americans as second level citizens and with people as first citizens.
It is true that the NAACP stands as one of the progressive movement in America's major victories against legal, and thus political, oppression. . Within a few weeks this number was enlarged to about fifty, one-third of whom were from other cities than New York. It is The nation's oldest civil rights organization that has changed America's history. Despite violence, intimidation and hostile government policies, the NAACP and its grass-roots membership persevered. One of the most famous members of the NAACP was Rosa Parks who is known for her courageous acts when she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama when she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus back in 1955.
Rosa Parks was a member of the NAACP, lived in Montgomery Alabama, and rode the public bus system. In the south, during this time the buses were segregated which meant that black people had to ride in the back of the bus behind a painted line. White people entered the front of the bus and were compelled to sit in front of the painted line. Most buses at the time had more room for white riders who used the service less than the black ridership. Yet, they could not cross the line even if the seats in the front were empty (Brown-Rose, 2008). Rosa Parks made a bold statement when she sat in the “white section” of a Montgomery bus. She was asked to surrender her seat to a white man, but she did not move and was soon arrested. Her brave action started the Montgomery bus Boycott, with the help of the NAACP, none other than Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership as part of the Montgomery Improvement Association. As its President, he was able spread the word quickly which brought national attention to the small town of Montgomery’s bus Boycott. The boycott was televised and brought so much attention that the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional; a success spurring a more
Southern States such as Texas, Florida and Alabama passed laws between 1870 and 1900 which were known as Jim Crow laws, and kept black and white. people apart from the world. The Federal Government in the more powerful North of the country didn't like Jim Crow laws, but did nothing to stop them. Then on June 7th 1892 a black shoemaker called Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in a white seat on the East Louisiana Railway. He took his case to the State Court, and it eventually went all the way to the court.
The laws known as “Jim Crow” were laws presented to basically establish racial apartheid in the United States. These laws were more than in effect for “for three centuries of a century beginning in the 1800s” according to a Jim Crow Law article on PBS. Many try to say these laws didn’t have that big of an effect on African American lives but in affected almost everything in their daily life from segregation of things: such as schools, parks, restrooms, libraries, bus seatings, and also restaurants. The government got away with this because of the legal theory “separate but equal” but none of the blacks establishments were to the same standards of the whites. Signs that read “Whites Only” and “Colored” were seen at places all arounds cities.
If it was not for Rosa Parks, the United States would still have segregation in the world. She refused to give her seat up on the bus, to help get rights for African Americans. By not giving up her seat to a white man, Rosa Parks has started the cause of the civil rights movement in the United States. This helps all African Americans get rights in America. Rosa Parks got a lot of rewards and had a husband that felt the same way as she did about African Americans. Today, African Americans have rights in the United States, thanks to Rosa
African Americans living in the north had more freedom than in the south, but they still faced discrimination. They were able to work, but they worked enough to feed themselves and family, they were not able to succeed. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” (Martin Luther King). Many people are sometimes to afraid of what might happen if they fight racism, that they never fight it and in the end, they are never able to find out. Rosa Parks was one of the many people who became tired of the racism the United States had. “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free” (Rosa Parks). Rosa Parks was one of the many people who fought racism, which would eventually make our country a better place to live.
Jim Crow laws affected the United States by creating a society where white individuals and than those of color were kept separate. As America hit a turning point in history and the Civil War was fought, slavery was abolished and white supremacists created Jim Crow laws in an attempt to keep African Americans as close as possible to their previous status as slaves. These laws aimed to control every aspect of life and to create a separated society dominated by whites. America was “Jim Crowed” for almost a full century and the laws weren’t successfully opposed until 1954 during the Brown v. Board of Education case, and even then, it took several years for society to accept integration.
Rosa Parks was an African American who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white men. She was bailed out of jail by president, Edgar Nixon, of the NAACP. After hearing about what occurred to Rosa Parks, the black community formed a boycott of Montgomery’s bus system. “Calling themselves the Montgomery Improvement Association, they chose a young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead the struggle f...