How could I possibly missed this all these years...
Rosa Parks b. feb 4th 1913-2005
On that fateful day of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was peacefully riding the Montgomery city bus when a white man came on board. In such a situation, the segregation laws dictate that Rosa Parks should give up her seat for the white. But Rosa Parks refused to do such a thing.
As a result, Rosa Parks was arrested. Rosa Parks was given the verdict of guilty for a disorderly conduct and was fined. News of her defiance stirred sympathy and anger. In response to the unfair laws and to the experience that Rosa Parks had to endure, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. led African-Americans to boycott the Montgomery Bus.
..." Montgomery's segregation laws were complex: blacks were required to pay their fare to the driver, then get off and reboard through the back door. Sometimes the bus would drive off before the paid-up customers made it to the back entrance. If the white section was full and another white customer entered, blacks were required to give up their seats and move farther to the back; a black person was not even allowed to sit across the aisle from whites. These humiliations were compounded by the fact that two-thirds of the bus riders in Montgomery were black."
Be Golden
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