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
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