Rosa Parks
This article from episode one of the Eyes on the Prize series talks about Rosa Parks and how she took a stance against segregation. Black citizens in Alabama deal with both legal and physical abuse daily, due to the Jim Crow system. Blacks were segregated from whites in almost every aspect of life, whether it be in schools, restaurants, theaters, or public transportation. Blacks were also treated like second-class citizens all the time. Rosa Parks was sick of this, and the lynching of Emmett Till was the catalyst she needed to challenge the regulations that segregated public transportation. Her story starts when she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. There were still a few vacant seat in the white section of the bus, but this white man was standing. The bus driver told the bus full of mostly black people to give him one of their seats. Everyone in Rosa’s row moved, except for her. The driver asked her if she was going to stand up, and after she said no, he threatened to call the police. She remained seated, and told him to call the police. Once they came, the officers questioned why she refused to move after the driver asked her to. Her response: “Why do you push us around?” and he replied, “I do not know, but the law is the law and you’re under arrest.” Rosa Parks stood up to the system, battling segregation, and is well-known for her refusal to give up her seat to a white man.
This section of the Eyes on the Prize series relates to my thesis because Rosa Parks is literally fighting for her rights through her refusal to move. African Americans had the right to ride the bus, but the buses were still segregated, with colored people in the back and whites up front. Since Rosa Parks had to move to give her seat to a white man, her rights are being restricted. The freedom of choice is being taken away due to segregation laws and unequal treatment of blacks in Southern United States.
This section of the Eyes on the Prize series relates to my thesis because Rosa Parks is literally fighting for her rights through her refusal to move. African Americans had the right to ride the bus, but the buses were still segregated, with colored people in the back and whites up front. Since Rosa Parks had to move to give her seat to a white man, her rights are being restricted. The freedom of choice is being taken away due to segregation laws and unequal treatment of blacks in Southern United States.
"Having to take a certain section [on a bus] because of your race was humiliating, but having to stand up because a particular driver wanted to keep a white person from having to stand was, to my mind, most inhumane."
-Rosa Parks