Rosa Parks would be 97 years old today

Today would be Rosa Parks 97th birthday.


Photo: NYTimes.com

In the Jim Crow south of 1955, everything was segregated; school, church, restaurants, hotels and public transportation. Black people had to sit on the back of the bus, and if a white person wanted their seat, they'd have to give it up.

In Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks decided she'd had enough. Parks refused to give up her seat for a white passenger and move to the back of the bus. She was arrested - like many others before.

As the Secretary of the Montgomery Chapter of the NAACP, "Parks’ resistance spread through a community that was tired of enduring years of insult and humiliation," said the Smithsonian Institute. "For more than a year, in the face of violence and intimidation, 50,000 black citizens forced a segregated bus system to open its doors to equality."

Rosa Lee McCauley Parks was born February 4, 1913. She passed away October 24, 2005.

Five years ago, Parks was honored by AC Transit, and for her work for the Transit Justice Movement. Organizations like Urban Habit are still working to End Race Discrimination in Public Transportation today.

Interestingly enough, now young Black people often ride on the back of the bus. Why is that?

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