Rob W 0 Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 US civil rights icon Parks dies Rosa Parks, the black woman whose 1955 protest action in Alabama marked the start of the modern US civil rights movement, has died at the age of 92. Mrs Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a bus led to a mass boycott of buses by black people. The protest led to the desegregation of the transport system and culminated in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed race discrimination in the US. Mrs Parks' lawyer said she died in her sleep at her home in Detroit, Michigan. Rosa Parks was a 42-year-old seamstress when she made history. On 1 December she was sitting on the bus in Montgomery when the white man demanded her seat. Mrs Parks refused, defying the rules which required blacks to give up their seats to whites. She was arrested and fined $14. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system organised by Baptist minister, the Rev Martin Luther King Jr. Luther King Jr later earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. In 1957, after having lost her job and received death threats, Mrs Parks and her husband, Raymond, moved to Detroit, where she worked as aide in a Democratic congressman's office. Speaking in 1992, Mrs Parks said of her famous bus protest: "The real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long." She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honour, three years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 36194 Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammynb 2934 Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 All it takes is for one person to stand up (or in Mrs Parks case sit down) for their rights and the world will start to change. RIP in Mrs Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill 0 Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 All it takes is for one person to stand up (or in Mrs Parks case sit down) for their rights and the world will start to change.RIP in Mrs Park. 49061[/snapback] RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob W 0 Posted October 25, 2005 Author Share Posted October 25, 2005 When you think she was dragged off for just sitting in a bus seat............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathras 234 Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Saw her speak once. Very unassuming and quiet, but with that quiet power that comes from the confidence you get from being through a system like Highlander and a movement like she was a part of. Truly a legend in her own time. Sad that we can no longer say 'a living legend.' RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob W 0 Posted October 25, 2005 Author Share Posted October 25, 2005 Not many people can say that they changed their world - and for the better as well.............................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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