You May Do That

You May Do That...

Meghan Adams

Professor Rupp

English Comp I

November 22, 2005

The evening of December 1, 1955, one single woman changed the lives of many people and the way that they would continue to live. Rosa Parks exhibited one woman's courage and strength to stand up for what she believed in. Mrs. Parks's decision to remain seated and go against the "Believed way" sparked the beginning of the American Civil Rights Movement. In this paper I will discuss Rosa Parks's background, her decision against standing up, and how she started the beginning of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Racism had tainted her life from the very beginning. During her childhood she attended a one-room school for blacks only. She was only allowed to attend school for a short time due to the ailing health of her grandmother. Rosa married young, took in sewing, learned typing, and got very involved in black politics (Rosa Parks). What impressed her most about her future husband, Raymond Parks, was "he didn't have 'that meek attitude--what we call an "Uncle Tom' attitude--toward white people." Raymond's involvement in black politics only furthered her efforts and involvement as well (Rosa Parks). After their marriage she attended local NAACP meetings and was then elected secretary of the local Montgomery chapter. In "Rosa Parks", Jill Smolowe of People Magazine, writes as one of the Montgomery chapter's first female members, Rosa served as secretary and youth director, corralling youngsters to protest at the city's main library, which made fewer books available to blacks. Rosa's background and lifetime had a very important role in her decision that changed her life from that very day forward. There was an individual stand for freedom taken by Rosa Parks--defying Jim Crow laws of segregation by refusing to yield her bus seat to a white man. There was the nascent civil rights movement of the 1950's just waiting for someone of her courage and morality to come along. Together, they had the power to overthrow statutory racial oppression and to change a nation (The Immovable Rosa Parks).

Mrs. Parks entered the bus, paid her fare, and took a seat in the middle section of the bus. The back of the bus was deemed the "colored section", the front was considered the "white section", and the middle section was for either race, however if a white person needed a seat, the black person was expected to give up their seat immediately. The bus made three stops a white man entered the bus and needed a seat, the three other black got out of their seat immediately, but when the driver ordered Rosa to get up she firmly stated "no", Mrs. Parks once stated that "people always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired of giving in." According to "Rosa Parks", Mrs. Parks had meant to do no more than show one rude bus driver that blacks were being treated unfairly. She wasn't the first black to ever refuse to give up her seat, but her action had consequences. After she refused to give up her seat on the bus, the driver threatened to have her arrested, Mrs. Parks simply stated, "You may do that." The policemen clearly didn't want to arrest her, but law forced them to.

In the words of biographer Douglas Brinkley "Rosa's refusal to back down made her 'the spiritual