Visionary: Rosa L. Parks
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Parks is best known for her career building move of refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1900, the city had passed a law that allowed bus conductors to segregate passengers by race. Parks had a vision in life where colored Americans would be accorded the same civil rights given Caucasian Americans, and, true to her vision in life, she stayed put.
The bus driver had her arrested, which led to the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott, which carried on for almost 400 days and severely damaged the bus industry of that city, 75% of which was patronized by colored Americans. Parks said in a radio interview a few months after her arrest that her move not to vacate her seat was motivated by a desire to "know for once and for all what rights [she] had as a human being and a citizen of Montgomery, Alabama."
Parks' career building move led to her permanent fixture as a secretary at one of the United States' more prominent congressmen's offices. More importantly, it served to cement the vision in life and career opportunities of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man whose own vision in life changed the United States forever. | 0 comments
