2 0 0 6 SPECIAL ISSUE
Jl'‘'
(JDbseruer
rtin
and 'I osa
2 0 0 6
L uther
P arks s p e d a i edition
Twin Pillars for Civil Rights
Bus boycott
fused MLK to
Rosa Parks
The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
and the recent death of Rosa Parks
has renewed interest in two pillars in
A m erica's pursuit o f justice.
W hile Parks is rem em bered for
helping start the m odern civil rights
m ovem ent by refusing to give up her
bus seat to a w hite man on Dec. I,
1955, it took Rev. King and som e
40,000 blacks in M ontgom ery to back
her with their own defiance.
Led by the M ontgomery Im prove
ment Association and King, its presi
dent, people used carpools and church
vehicles during a yearlong boycott of
the city’s segregated buses. The boy
cott ended when the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled the segregation was un
constitutional.
Parks died Oct. 24 at the age o f 92.
King was assassinated April 4, 1968.
Rosa Parks in 1995, still
showing the inner strength
and positive force o f personality
that motivated her in standing
up to oppression.
<
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1955.
MMMM
Rosa Parks, the Spark that Started the Civil Rights Fire
Rosa Parks did not intend to get
arrested on the day she was told to
give up her seat for a white passenger.
In fact. Parks was properly seated
because there were no seats available
in the black section o f the bus. A c
cording to the law, the bus driver was
out o f bounds for asking her to give up
her seat to a male passenger.
"The back of the bus was all filled up
with black people already," Parks said.
T his was the last straw for Parks.
H er illegal arrest was also the last
straw for the black com m unity in
M ontgom ery.
Bus segregation in M ontgom ery
was a long-standing point o f co n ten
tion for blacks, not only because
they were forced to si, at the back,
but because they also had to pay
their fare, then exit the front d o o r o f
the bus and reboard through the
back door. P eriodically the driver
w ould pull aw ay before the black
passen g er could re-enter the bus.
The segregation on buses, as in schools
and elsewhere in the south, no, only
separated the races, but created a privi
leged position for whites. This could not
be tolerated indefinitely.
The m omentum for change only
required the bravery o f a few ordinary
people like Parks to build into the
powerful civil rights m ovement that
forever changed American politics.
These images provided by the National Archives showing Rosa Parks and her fingerprint sheet from her 1955 arrest is part o f an exhibit "Mother o f the Civil
Rights Movement” commemorating the 50th anniversary o f the arrest of Parks.
Ending
Homelessness
Strides taken
towards housing
equity
See page B4
Dr. King's
Unfulfilled
Dreams
Dr. King's
'Beloved
Community
Pastor sees wide gaps
between haves and
have-nots
Local leaders see
progress
See page BS
See page B11