Reaching the Limit

Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist. She was born on February 4, 1913. She was most known for her refusal to obey bus orders on December 1^st, 1955. She was boarding a bus in Montgomery, Alabama when the bus driver James Blake ordered her to get in the back of the bus. This was to make room for a white passenger who had just entered the bus. Parks allowed the bus driver to call the police and she was arrested. According to Parks, she was not physically tired. Instead, she was tired of giving in and being treated unfairly. After the news of her arrest spread, the NAACP leader E. D. Nixon and Jo Ann Robinson suggested a bus boycott with the support of African-American community. As a result, the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed to boycott riding on any Montgomery Bus.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a significant part of the civil rights movement, and was led by Martin Luther King. The bus boycotts in Montgomery sparked protests all around the country. There were sit-ins, eat-ins, and other similar acts of peaceful protest. Thousands came together to demand equal rights for all people. The bus boycott lasted for 381 days. It became so heated that on December 20^th, 1956, the United States Supreme Court declared the Montgomery Laws of segregation on buses to be unconstitutional.

This milestone for the modern civil rights movement made Parks an icon for the fight against segregation. Congress has even called Parks the “Mother for the Modern-day Civil Rights Movement.” It had international influence and was the inspiration for other boycotts in towns such as Alexandria and Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Rosa Parks still has quite the legacy. She holds forty-three honorary degrees. She has received the Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a civilian. She has received many more awards and has had quite a number of things named after her. Rosa Parks died October 24, 2005, but left her influence.

Her passionate act of resistance was sparked by life-long oppression. Through all this mistreatment, she has “reached the limit” of tolerance for racial segregation, and defiantly disobeyed Alabama state laws. Her quiet courageous act changed America, its view of black people and redirected the course of history.

- Kevin and Felix