On this day in 1913, iconic human-rights activists Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. She is known for her crucial role in the Montgomery bus boycott, and is sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Civil Rights and the Mother of the Freedom Movement. Not only was she a key player in America’s civil-rights movement, she was also active in the Black Power movement.
On 1 December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks rejected an order to vacate a row of seats in the ‘coloured’ section of the bus to make room for a White passenger. All the ‘White seats’ had been taken.
It was the era of Jim Crow Laws on racial segregation, and Parks was charged with violation of the Montgomery City code.
Her arrest for civil disobedience motivated the African community to boycott Montgomery buses for over a year and ignited the civil-rights movement that changed America. This act of defiance became an important symbol for the movement, and Rosa became an international icon of resistance against racial segregation.
In her autobiography, My Story, she wrote:
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Parks died on 24 October 2005, leaving behind a legacy of unwavering commitment to the struggle for our people’s freedom and dignity.