Rosa Parks - Important Activists of the American Civil Rights Movement - Mini Series
For much of America's history, Black people living in the country didn't have full civil rights, such as the right to vote, the right to use public places and the right to public education. In the 1950s and 1960s, Black people in the United States took action against the unfair ways in which they were being treated. This period in history is known as the American Civil Rights Movement. The brave people who took action to bring about equal rights for Black people are known as activists. There were many courageous activists during the Civil Rights Movement and over the coming weeks we'll be sharing some of their stories.
Rosa Parks - Important Activists of the American Civil Rights Movement
The Jim Crow Laws
Rosa Parks lived in a city called Montgomery in the southern American state of Alabama. At this time, a set of laws called the "Jim Crow Laws" had been introduced in many southern states. The laws were based around "segregation" - where Black Americans had to stay separate from white Americans. Black people had to use separate schools, libraries, public transport, restaurants, toilets and more.
Action on The Bus
On 1st December 1955, Rosa boarded a bus home from work. On her bus, the seats at the front were reserved for white passengers. As the bus began to fill up, the bus driver demanded the Black passengers give up their seats for the white people boarding. Although the other Black passengers gave up their seats, Rosa Parks refused to move. Rosa was arrested for breaking segregation laws and was told to pay a fine.
The Bus Boycott
On hearing of Rosa's arrest, local Black residents decided to take action. The Montgomery Improvement Association (led by Martin Luther King Jr.), organised a boycott of the city's buses. A boycott is a form of protest where a person refuses to use the services of a particular business. The bus boycott began on 5th December 1955, the day that Rosa Parks attended her trial. The bus boycott was only supposed to last a day, but it went on for over a year. Black people made up a large portion of the passengers using the city's buses. Because of this the city's transport services began to lose a lot of money.
The Result
On 13th November 1956 the US Supreme Court ruled that Alabama's segregation rules were unconstitutional (breaking the laws established by the United States' government) because they impacted on people's civil rights. By the end of December the same year, the court order arrived in Montgomery, Alabama and an integrated bus service was introduced where Black people and white people didn't have to be segregated.
