A Hero In Progress

On December 1, 1955, 42 year-old Rosa Louise Parks was commuting back home from a long day of work at the Montgomery Fair department store by bus. At one point during her route home, all the “white" seats were taken, leaving a white male passenger with no seat. So, the bus driver told the 4 black passengers seated in the front row of the coloured section, including Rosa, to give up their seats. The three others obeyed, fearful of the backlash they would receive if they didn’t, but Rosa did not. She refused to give up her seat for another passenger just because she was a member of the coloured minority. Eventually, two police officers approached the bus and arrested Rosa. Written into her autobiography, “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically…. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Knowing that refusing to adhere to the racial segregation law would cause punishment, conflict and uproar in her community, such as the loss of her job and the death threats that she would soon experience, Rosa still stood by her belief in  equality and from that day on, Rosa’s stand against the unfair racial segregation law forever changed race relations in America. After the arrest of Rosa Parks, the coloured people of Montgomery organized a city bus boycott that lasted for 381 days. Thousands of other courageous couloured people sympathized with Rosa Parks, promoted her belief, and protested to demand equal rights for all people. Rosa Parks's decision that to take a stand against racial segregation gained much attention and many others began to follow her lead in promoting a more free and equal country.