On December
1, 1995, Rosa Parks went home from work by using the Cleveland Avenue bus and
took a seat labeled for non-white passengers. On that day she had made up her
mind not to give her seat for white passengers as the number of new passengers
boarded the bus increases. This resulted in Mrs. Parks being arrested by police
as she had broken the law of Montgomery City Code. Due to strong determination
and fight for equality had made her a well-known hero. Over and above, another
reason that made Rosa Parks a hero was her action had become an inspiration for
women.
During her time, dark people the
lowest status in society. It was a law in Montgomery that colored and white
people must not assemble when they were boarding the same bus. African-
American passengers were allowed to enter the bus using the front door when
they had to pay for the ticket. After paying the fare, they had to exit the bus
and make an entrance through the back door. The African- American passengers
were not allowed to sit at the front rows in the bus as it was reserved for
white passengers. They had to sit on the seats located at the back of the bus,
which was labeled “colored” passengers. However, if more white passengers got
on the bus, colored passengers had to stand up and hand over their seat for new
white passengers who boarded the bus. This rule then had changed after Rosa
Parks heroically broken the biased law set by the authority.
Rosa Parks received a heroic respect
because of her strong determination. After being arrested due to her action of
breaking the law, she suffered hardship for the first few months. She had lost
her job at the department store while her husband was fired. The life in
Montgomery had been difficult for her and family which forced them to move to
Detroit, Michigan and start a new life there. Rosa Parks did not discourage by the hardship
that she had to go through after broken the law. Instead the hardship made her
to be stronger than before.
Another reason that makes Rosa Parks
a hero was because she was a catalyst for a change as she fought for equality.
She experienced a very difficult treatment in her school compared to white
girls’ school. The minority group was not provided with any transportation for
African-American’s students to go to school which forced them to walk to their
school every day. According to article “Rosa Parks Says Black Must Fight for
Equality” written by White and Woodson (1991), schools for minority groups such
as African-American only had a few rooms with o glass windows. The school had
only one teacher who taught the whole school, which made the teaching and
learning process less efficient. However, the situation was different for white
students who could go to school by bus and can study in a comfortable
environment. These injustice actions had made Rosa Parks determined to have a
place in a free society. In 1943, Mrs. Pars joined the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) which fought for social justice in
America. Rosa Pars role in NAACP was that a secretary to the president, Edgar
Nixon. Before she was arrested, she had joined a workshop regarding justice at
Tennessee’s Highland Folk School. This showed that she was active participating
in movement of civil rights. Consequently, Mrs. Parks attempted on fighting for
equal rights led to a bigger movement in Civil Rights as the African-American
communities were united to fight for their rights.
Not only Rosa Parks fought for equal
rights made her a hero, but her action had inspired every woman to have power
in society. As a woman, Mrs. Parks’ heroically rejected to give up her seat for
white passenger was unexpected. It was something that everyone did not have courage
to do at that time. P. McDonald (2011), director of the Rosa Parks Mother of
Civil Rights Movement writes that Rosa Parks’ spirit to stand up for her
community has contribute to the birth of African-American society that exists
today. This means that the African-American are treated equally today due to
the existence of Civil Rights heroes’ who fought for them in the past. Rosa
Parks had a characteristic as describe in Pollster’s article “Eve’s Daughter”
(2001) which is the sanctity of human existence serves as motivation for all
heroes. Mrs. Parks believed that all humans should be treated equally
regardless their race or skin color. This believed had motivated her to fight
for equality that should be received by her community.
African-American may still be
treated as a second class citizen until today if there was no one fought for
them. During Mrs. Parks’ lifetime, she had done something that no other women
had dared to do. The way Rosa Parks reacted to the biased treatment that she received
when had motivated African-American society to uphold their belief, fight for
justice and give women a space in society. Rosa Parks (n.d.) said that “Racism
is still exists today. We must prepare the future generation with enough
knowledge about the importance of civil rights and against racism.
Works Cited
Margaret, S. & Bianca, T. (2011) Rosa Parks Mother of
The Civil Rights Movements https://www.deomi.org/SpecialObservance/documents/Rosa_Parks_Special_Observance.pdf
The Mother of The Civil Rights Movement (n.d.) http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3320
Cristopher, K (2013) 10 Things You May Not Know about Rosa
Parks http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-rosa-parks
Rosa Parks (n.d.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks
Matt, W. & Kia, W. (1991) ROSA PARKS SAYS BLACK MUST
FIGHT FOR EQUALITY http://www.ypress.org/news/rosa_parks_says_blacks_must_fight_for_equality
Rosa Parks! How I fought for Civil Rights (n.d.) http://teacher.scholastic.com/rosa/interview.htm
E. Dolahite & Haun (2011) Soucework:
Academic Writing Fom Sources Second Edition Minnesota HEINLE CENGAGE Learning
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