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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1982)
Rosa Parks M other o f the Movement Rosa L . Parks is known as the M other o f the C iv il Rights M o v e ment. Her refusal to give up her bus seat triggered the bus boycott in M ontgom ery, A la b a m a , in 1955. Her courageous action was to alter the course o f Black American his tory and introduce to the world one o f its greatest leaders— D r. M artin Luther King, Jr. Rosa Louise was born on Febru ary 4, 1913, to James and Leona McCawley in Tuskegee, A labam a. The family moved to Montgomery, A labam a, when Rosa was eleven years o ld . She m arried R aym ond Parks and they continued to live in M ontgom ery where M rs. Parks worked as a seamstress. The Parkses were long-time acti vists in the pursuit o f civil rights, long before it was p o p u lar. M r. Parks was a freedom fighter for the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s. Both were involved in voter registration drives for Blacks. Rosa Parks was the secretary for the M ontgom ery branch o f the N A A C P . She was also the Youth Director for the organiza tion. She was preparing for a major youth conference when arrested for the bus incident. The petite, modest Rosa Parks re calls the historic day o f December 1, HERITAGE Rosa E Parks What is Africat to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal Black Women from whose loins I sprang When the birds of Eden sang? One three centuries removed from the scenes his fathers loved, Spicy grove, cinnamon tree, What is Africa to me? 1955. She boarded the bus coming home from w o rk. She sat in the “ colored section.” as the bus began to fill there was a white man stand ing. The driver asked three Black people to stand so the w hite man could be seated. They moved. Rosa Parks remained seated. “ I am not going to move. I have paid my m oney.” The driver remarked, “ I w ill have you arrested.” She told him, “ Go ahead.” The Parks case began the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was led by a young, local minister, D r. M artin Luther King, Jr. The boycott lasted a year and re sulted in the outlawing o f segrega tion Award. In April 1978, the Rosa L. Parks Foundation was established to build a home and gallery to house her per sonal papers. The Detroit Historical D istrict has granted the property landm ark status. Some o f her pa pers have been donated to Wayne State University o f public facilities in the South. The Parks incidents al so marked the beginning o f a move ment designed to change Am erica’s face. Since that historic day in M o n t gomery, Mrs. Parks has continued her work in the civil rights move ment and has received several cita tions for her outstanding contribu tions. The Southern Christian Lead ership Conference (SCLC) sponsors an annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award. She has received an honor ary doctorate from Shaw College in D e tro it, M ich ig a n . In 1976, the Mayor o f Detroit, Coleman Young, named a street “ Rosa Parks Boul evard.” In 1977, the United A uto m obile W orkers awarded her the Social Justice A w ard . In the same year, she received the Humanitarian Award from the Catholic Universi ties o f A m erica, in W ashington, D .C . In 1978, the Progressive N a tio n a l C o nventio n presented her w ith the M a rtin L u th er K ing, Jr. Walter P. Reuther Library Archives o f U rb an A ffa irs and L ab o r. The Rosa L . Parks Fo u nd ation is in terested in senior citizens and youth. Mrs. Parks secs a void in the family and the fou n d atio n w ill support programming to promote relations between the very young and senior citizens. Mrs. Parks was widowed in 1977. Today she lives in D etro it, M ic h i gan, where she cares for her mother. She is an administrator in the office o f Congressman John Conyers, Jr. 'W eshall overcom e. . . ' — Countee Cullen, 1925 Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. o f Portland *r Salutes Black History M onth in Portland We invite you to Take The Pepsi Challenge. / Let your taste decide. Jan Ernst Matzeliger (1852-1889) Born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guinea, he earned passage to the United States as a sailor and arrived in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1876. After laboring ten years, Matzeliger invented and patented an auto matic Shoe-Lasting Machine in 1883. The patent was purchased by the United Shoe Machinery Company of Boston, which revolutionized the shoe industry, creating thousands of jobs and cutting shoe prices in half. He was posthumously awarded a gold medal by the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. A statue was erected in his honor in Lynn, Massachusetts, the shoe capital of the world. Portland Observer February 25, 1982 Secion II Page 9 »
