"It was 70 years ago when four African Americans were sitting in the fifth row of a bus in Montgomery. As one white man had to stand towards the front, the driver asked the four to get up and move towards the back of the bus. Three did; one did not the rest is history. Or so many American kids might think when they first read the story of Rosa Parks in school."
"She was not just a fatigued seamstress who, after a long day, at work, spontaneously decided to protest against injustice. Rather, Parks had been a member of the NAACP in Montgomery since 1943; she had led the organization's youth, and she had been investigating rapes of African American women in Alabama. What Obama once claimed that any of us ordinary people without rank or wealth or title or fame can somehow point out the imperfections of this nation, and come together, and challenge the status quo,"
Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat combined individual courage with years of activism and organizational support. Parks had been an NAACP member since 1943, led youth efforts, and investigated assaults on Black women in Alabama. Successful resistance required coordinated logistics: pamphlet distribution, volunteer taxis, and sustained community commitment, producing a 381-day bus boycott. Legal change followed when the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional in December 1956. The ability of ordinary people to challenge injustice often depends on effective organization and collective action rather than solitary spontaneity.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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