Rosa+Parks

 Hi Mrs. Simard! Ryan Bell media type="custom" key="3624359"

 Rosa Louide McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist in the 1960's who is famous for refusing to give up her seat to a white person when asked on a bus. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order to give up her seat to in order for a white passenger to sit there. She was arrested, and the act of her arrest helped start the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The bus incident led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which was led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This was the the Association that called for the boycott. Irene Mogan, Claudette Colven and Sarah Louise Keys had both already participated in this type of protest previously, however they are not nearly as famous as she is, partially because of the fact that Parks' protest helped spark the protest that lasted 382 days. A Supreme Court Decision struck down the Montgomery ordinance under which Mrs. Parks had been fined, and outlawed racial segregation on public transportation. 

 Rosa Parks grew up in an extremely rascist environment. She described hearing lynchings at night and being scared that her house was going to get burnt down. She said that every day was a fight for survival. After growing up in an environment like that she would have wanted to change the situation for her and other people, which was her biggest goal. By refusing to move on the bus, she expressed her opinion of the injustices towards blacks in America and inspired others to do the same. She was arrested for standing up for her rights, but that wasn't very costly in comparison to what the bus companies suffered eventually. Her sacrafice started a revolution that was one of the key points in the fight for black rights in the U.S.

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