“I’m tired of being treated like a second-class citizen” – Rosa Parks Arrested

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat in the front section of a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. This was an age in which segregation was the watchword of the south. Under the guise of “separate but equal,” blacks and whites were expected to use separate restrooms, buses, and lunch counters while attending different schools. By refusing to forfeit her seat to a white man, Rosa Parks helped set off a bus boycott that helped to fuel the civil rights movement of the late 1950s, 1960s and beyond. Dr. Martin Luther King led the bus boycott that protested racial segregation through non-violent means. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began four days after Rosa Park’s arrest and lasted for 381 days. As a result of their non-violent actions, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks have taken their place in the pantheon of American advocates for not only human equality, but human dignity as well.

In 1987, Rosa Parks founded the Rosa & Raymond Institute for Self Development which is devoted to motivating the youth to reach their highest potential. Even though she passed away in 2005, her work lives on through her foundation and in the lives of those she has inspired.

[Image via disarminginjustice and 37days]