by Anne Schraff
The first bus that came was too crowded. Parks did not want to stand on 24
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the ride home. So, while waiting for the next bus, she did some Christmas shopping.
When Parks returned to the bus stop, she put her money in the fare box.
Then, she went down the aisle to a seat.
All of the front seats were for white riders. The back seats were for black riders. But the seats in the middle were for anybody on a first come, first served basis.
Parks sat down in the middle section next to a black man. She was glad to be off her feet and heading home at last.
When the bus stopped at the next corner, some white passengers boarded.
The entire front section for whites only filled up rapidly. Some of the white riders were standing.
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The bus driver came down the middle aisle. The rule was that no white rider would have to stand, even if that meant that black people would have to give up their seats. The bus driver came to the row of seats where Rosa Parks was sitting.
There were four African Americans in that row: Parks, a black man, and two black women across the aisle.
The bus driver told them all to get up so that the white man could take one of the seats. It was not allowed for a white person to sit in a row also occupied by black people. Once the white man sat down, the entire row became a “white row.”
The black man and the two black women got up as they were told to do.
Rosa Parks refused to move.
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C H A P T E R
5
The bus driver told Rosa Parks to get up or he would have her arrested. She refused. The bus sat there until two white police officers arrived. The officers arrested Rosa Parks and took her to jail.
Parks was led up a narrow flight of stairs to her cell. It smelled bad in the jail. Everything was dirty. Parks was put in a cell with other women.
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Rosa Parks was arrested and fingerprinted.
Parks asked if she could make a phone call. She wanted to tell her husband what had happened. He was expecting her home. The jailer refused to let her make a phone call until an hour had passed. Then, finally, Rosa Parks called and told her husband she was in jail.
Word had already spread through the black community that Rosa Parks had been arrested. People who knew her saw the police taking her off the bus. Now, Raymond Parks and some white and 28
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black friends came to the jail. They paid Rosa Parks’ bail and took her home.
Soon there was a meeting of the NAACP. The leaders saw the arrest of Rosa Parks as a chance to end bus segregation in Montgomery and the entire nation.
First, the black people of Montgomery would boycott the bus system. Rosa Parks would then be convicted of breaking the segregation law. At that point, the NAACP would appeal.
They would take the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
They were hoping the Court would declare segregation on public
transportation unconstitutional.
Rosa Parks’ elderly mother lived with her. Raymond Parks was not well. Rosa Parks supported her family. She was 29
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afraid she might be fired from her job.
But even though she was worried, she agreed to help with the bus boycott.
To start the bus boycott, the black leaders in Montgomery turned to two young ministers. They were Reverend Ralph Abernathy and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. There were meetings in the black churches of Montgomery to plan the boycott.
The bus boycott was set for December 5, 1955. No black man, woman, or child was to ride the buses that day.
Thousands of leaflets were printed and given throughout the black
neighborhoods. People were told to find other ways to get to school or work. If they had to, they were told to walk wherever they had to go.
The weather was cold on the morning of December 5. Rosa Parks and the 30
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other black supporters of the boycott were fearful. They thought most black people would want to ride the buses.
Many had long trips to work. They had no way to ride to work in
automobiles. Most blacks had no automobiles and did not know anyone who did. It would be a terrible hardship to walk for many miles and then put in a hard day’s work.
But, on that Monday morning, the black people of Montgomery surprised everyone. They boycotted the buses.
The buses were empty as they rolled through the streets. The boycott was a big success.
The leaders of the boycott were from the Montgomery Improvement
Association (MIA). They decided to keep the boycott going until the city of Montgomery gave in to their demands.
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The MIA demanded fair and
courteous treatment for black riders.
They also demanded black bus drivers on black routes. They insisted that seats should be given out on a first come, first served basis. Black people should not be expected to give up seats they already had to white newcomers.
The MIA made plans to help the boycotting riders. They set up fleets of taxicabs, which charged the same fare as the bus. The few black people who did own automobiles agreed to carpool.
Many adults and children promised to keep on walking for as long as necessary.
Rosa Parks came to court and was convicted of breaking the bus
segregation law. She was fined ten dollars. Rosa Parks appealed the sentence. The whole issue of bus segregation was now on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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C H A P T E R
6
In January 1956 Rosa Parks lost her job. She was fired. She did not think it was because of the bus boycott. But, it was very hard for the family.
Parks took part time sewing jobs to keep food on the table. Parks spent a lot of time doing volunteer work for the MIA. She found ways for many black people to get to work without using the bus. She coordinated rides for people.
She helped set up special bus stops for black taxicabs at black churches.
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As the boycott continued, the white business community was suffering.
Black people did not shop in downtown Montgomery anymore.
The bus companies were desperate with all of their black riders gone. Some white people became angry. They made threats against Rosa and others.
On January 30, somebody planted a bomb at Rev. Martin Luther King’s house. His wife and baby were inside the house. If they had not been in the back of the house, they might have been hurt or killed.
Some white people blamed King for making the bus boycott more effective.
In February, Parks, King, and 86 other civil rights activists were arrested for setting up the bus boycott. There was an Alabama state law against boycotts.
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Rosa Parks was becoming world
famous now. News reporters came from all over the world to see what was happening in Montgomery. It was all because Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on that bus.
Many people praised Parks for her courage. But, life was very hard for Parks and her family. Leona McCauley, Rosa’s mother, was very ill. Raymond Parks was nervous and sick. He could not work.
All the pressure was having an effect on the family. Rosa Parks had no steady job. She found it hard to pay her bills.
For the first time in her life, Parks took money from her friends to keep going.
On June 5, 1956, the federal
court ruled that Alabama’s bus segregation law was unconstitutional. They said it 35
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violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave equal protection to all Americans.
Alabama appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In November the Supreme Court agreed that bus
segregation was unconstitutional. That meant all buses all over the South had to be integrated. Black people could no longer be told they had to sit in certain seats.
The bus boycott was over. The civil rights workers had won. Rosa Parks had won.
In December Rosa Parks got on a Montgomery city bus. She sat where she wanted. Nobody said a word.
The integration of Montgomery’s bus system went well overall. But, there were some ugly incidents. Somebody fired a 36
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Rosa Parks seated on a Montgomery City bus.
shotgun blast at Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s front door. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
A sniper shot a black bus rider in the leg. Several black churches were bombed. But, nobody was hurt. Little by little, the white people of Montgomery accepted what had
happened. All charges against Rosa Parks and her friends were dropped.
Rosa Parks had helped win a great victory for the black people of the 37
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American South. But, she continued to get threats. People called her home and warned her to get out of Montgomery.
Parks loved Montgomery. She did not want to leave.
Parks’ husband was so upset. He seemed to have a nervous breakdown.
Parks’ mother was suffering too. Rosa Parks decided she could no longer ask her family to pay such a high price.
The Parks family was also suffering financially. Rosa Parks could not get a job anymore. Everybody knew who she was. White employers feared trouble if they hired her. There were very few black employers in Montgomery.
Rosa Parks sadly packed up her few possessions. They headed to the only place where they had family, Detroit, Michigan.
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C H A P T E R
7
Sylvester McCauley, Rosa Parks’
brother, owned a large house in Detroit.
He and his wife, Daisy, had thirteen children. When Rosa Parks arrived in Detroit, her brother helped her get settled. Rosa Parks joined the local NAACP. She looked for work.
Rosa Parks was offered a job in Virginia. She hoped to work in Detroit, but she needed to bring in money. So, she left her husband and mother in 39
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Detroit. She worked for the Hampton Institute in Virginia as a hostess in the guest residence.
Parks worked at the Hampton
Institute for a year. Then, she came back to Detroit and got a job at a small shop as a seamstress. She worked ten hours a day at the sewing machine making aprons and skirts. It was hard work, but now Parks could support her family.
While working at the shop, Parks met a black teenager, Elaine Eason. The young woman was impressed with Rosa Parks. She had read about her in the newspapers. She could not believe Parks was a seamstress in Detroit.
Elaine Eason asked Rosa Parks all about the Montgomery bus boycott and what it was like. Eason felt like she was 40
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talking to a celebrity. From then on, Rosa Parks and Elaine Eason (who became Elaine Eason Steele) were good friends.
Parks continued to be involved in civil rights activities. In August 1963 Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. led a large march for justice on Washington, D.C. Parks was there.
Then, in early 1964, Rosa Parks heard about a young black man trying to get elected to the House of Representatives from Michigan. Thirty-five-year-old John Conyers, Jr. was a lawyer. He was also a hardworking friend of civil rights causes. But, Conyers was not well-known. He would have a difficult time getting elected.
Rosa Parks thought John Conyers Jr.
was just what the people needed in that 41
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district. She decided to help him get elected. She called Martin Luther King Jr. and asked him to come to Michigan to speak for Conyers.
King never made political speeches for people. But, he was convinced by Parks that he should make this speech. He came to Michigan and asked voters to elect Conyers. It was just what the Conyers’ campaign needed. John Conyers, Jr. won the election.
When he joined the House of
Representatives, John Conyers asked Rosa Parks to join the staff in his Michigan office. Some of Conyers’
friends thought this was not a good idea. Parks was controversial. She had been in the middle of that bus boycott in Alabama.
But, Parks took the job and turned out to be an excellent congressional 42
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assistant. When people brought problems to Congressman Conyers’
office, Rosa Parks handled them. She brought important issues to Conyers’
attention. Parks was courteous and efficient.
Some white people in Michigan knew about Rosa Parks’ past in ending bus segregation in Alabama. Some of them sent her hate mail. The letters ridiculed Parks. But, none of this bothered Rosa Parks. She had been through too much already to let hate mail get her down.
Rosa Parks became a member of St.
Matthews American Methodist
Episcopalian (AME) church in Detroit.
She was made a deaconess.
In her job, she reached out to the sick and needy of the church and tried to help them. She visited church members 43
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in nursing homes and hospitals and prison.
Sometimes people would come to the church just to see her rushing around doing her work. They remembered seeing her picture in all the papers during the Montgomery bus boycott.
Now here she was, quietly working in her church to help the needy.
Rosa Parks never took credit for having done anything outstanding. She just did what had to be done and remained a humble person. She knew she was well known because of the Montgomery bus boycott. But, she did not care about that.
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C H A P T E R
8
In March 1965 a group of African Americans marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Black people were being denied the right to vote in some places in the South. The marchers called attention to this.
Rosa Parks was watching the march on television from her home in Detroit.
Suddenly, something terrible happened.
White Alabama state troopers attacked the marchers with clubs. Men and women were knocked to the ground.
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The marchers ran to a church and hoped they would be safe there. But, the troopers followed them into the church.
They threw one man right through a stained glass window.
Rosa Parks was horrified. She had taken part in demonstrations. But, nobody had ever treated her like these marchers were treated.
Martin Luther King Jr. called Parks and asked her to come to Alabama. He wanted her to join him in another march. Parks had no money for the plane ticket. But, her brother’s trade union paid for her ticket. She was off to Alabama.
King led the march this time. The Alabama state troopers watched. But, this time they did not attack the marchers. Rosa Parks was happy to have taken part in this march.
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In 1967 there were race riots in Detroit. Rosa Parks spoke out against the violence. She understood that the young men were frustrated and angry.
But, what they had done did not help themselves or others. They burned businesses. Rosa Parks’ husband w
as working at a barbershop at the time. He lost all of his tools in the fires.
On the night of April 4, 1968, Rosa Parks and her mother were watching television. A bulletin flashed on the screen. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.
Parks and her mother wept at the news. King had done so much to advance the cause of civil rights. Now, he had been shot down and killed. Rosa Parks was filled with deep sadness.
Rosa Parks was now suffering from health problems. She had stomach 47
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ulcers and heart trouble. In the 1970s,Parks fell down twice, breaking bones. She still worked for
Congressman Conyers. She was
supporting her mother and, most of the time, her husband too. She had to keep going no matter how she felt.
For five years Raymond Parks suffered from throat cancer. Rosa Parks worried and kept hoping he would recover. She loved and respected her husband.
Raymond Parks was not perfect, but he had many good qualities. He did not mind that Rosa Parks’ mother lived with the family. He never complained about having his mother-in-law in the home.
Raymond Parks was often very
worried about his wife’s participation in civil rights causes. He was so nervous that he sometimes could not sleep at night. But, he knew how much this 48
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work meant to Rosa Parks. He never asked her to give it up.
In 1977 Raymond Parks died. Rosa Parks was grief stricken. All through their marriage, Raymond Parks was often out of work and sick. But, the fact that he was always there giving his wife moral support meant so much to Rosa Parks. Now that he was gone, she mourned for him deeply.
A few months after Raymond Parks died, Rosa Parks suffered another terrible personal blow. Her brother, Sylvester McCauley, also died. When they were children, Rosa Parks always took care of him. Now, he too was gone.
At this time Leona McCauley was also under treatment for cancer. Parks was working full time for Congressman Conyers. It was a very hard time in Rosa Parks’ life.
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