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Rosa Parks speaking at a 1968 rally, standing behind several microphones.
WonderStory

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, she had spent twelve years in the NAACP, America's leading civil-rights group. She had investigated racial violence, worked on voter registration and attended a desegregation workshop. Her refusal came from an experienced organiser who knew the risks.

Rosa Parks Papers, Library of Congress

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Parks joined the Montgomery branch of the NAACP in December 1943 and became its secretary. In 1944 she investigated the case of Recy Taylor, a Black woman assaulted by a group of white men, and she later advised the branch's Youth Council. In the summer of 1955 she attended a workshop on desegregation at Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, a training centre for activists. Her arrest that December helped start the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ended after the Supreme Court's Browder v. Gayle ruling against bus segregation. She lost her department-store job, moved to Detroit in 1957 and worked for Congressman John Conyers from 1965 to 1988. In 2005 she became the first woman to lie in honour in the U.S. Capitol.

Türkçe oku
Rosa Parks 1955'te Alabama'nın Montgomery kentinde otobüsteki koltuğunu vermeyi reddettiğinde, ABD'nin önde gelen sivil haklar örgütü NAACP'de on iki yıldır çalışıyordu. Irkçı şiddet vakalarını araştırmış, seçmen kaydı için çalışmış, ırk ayrımına karşı bir eğitime katılmıştı. Koltuğunu, riskleri bilen deneyimli bir örgütçü olarak vermedi.

Parks, Aralık 1943'te NAACP'nin Montgomery şubesine katıldı ve şubenin sekreteri oldu. 1944'te bir grup beyaz adamın saldırısına uğrayan siyahi kadın Recy Taylor'ın davasını araştırdı; sonra şubenin gençlik kolunda danışmanlık yaptı. 1955 yazında Tennessee'deki aktivist eğitim merkezi Highlander Folk School'da ırk ayrımının kaldırılması üzerine bir çalışmaya katıldı. O yılın aralık ayındaki tutuklanması, 381 gün süren Montgomery Otobüs Boykotu'nun başlamasında etkili oldu; boykot, Yüksek Mahkeme'nin Browder v. Gayle davasında otobüslerdeki ayrımı anayasaya aykırı bulmasıyla bitti. Parks mağazadaki işini kaybetti, 1957'de Detroit'e taşındı ve 1965'ten 1988'e kadar Kongre üyesi John Conyers'ın yanında çalıştı. 2005'te öldüğünde naaşı ABD Kongre binasında halkın saygısına sunuldu; bu onuru gören ilk kadın oldu.

Sources and further reading

Image details

Rosa Parks speaking at a 1968 rally in Washington, D.C.

Warren K. Leffler / U.S. News & World Report Collection, Library of Congress

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