Rosa Parks

In August 1955, Emmitt Till was brutally murdered for reportedly flirting with a young white woman.

On November 27, 1955, Rosa Parks attended a meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church that addressed this case. At that meeting, Parks found out that the men who senselessly murdered Till had been acquitted.

Rosa Parks was deeply saddened and angered by the news.

On December 1, 1955, after working all day at her job with the NAACP in Montgomery, Alabama,  

Parks boarded one of the city buses, paid the bus fare, and sat down.

As the bus made its way through the city,

Picking up more and more people,

The bus driver moved the designated “colored” seating section sign behind where Parks and three other black passengers were sitting and

Demanded that the black passengers move to the back of the bus so that white passengers would not have to stand.

Two years prior to this incident, this same driver, James Blake, had left Parks standing in the rain after she had paid her bus fare.

Seeing Blake and hearing the disrespect in his voice—

Remembering Emmitt Till and all that had been lost with his life—

Thinking of Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old high school student who had been sexually harassed by police officers after being arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus—

Rosa Parks decided that she was tired of being pushed around and, herself, refused to move to the back of the bus.

Parks remained calm when Blake threatened to call the cops.

She did not resist arrest when the cops came to take her into custody.

She was released on bail later that night and tried for her “crime” on December 5, 1955.

She was found guilty of disorderly conduct and fined $10.

The day of Rosa Parks’ trial was the day that the Montgomery Bus Boycott began.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott gained national and international attention,

Raising awareness of the difficulties of blacks in America and the civil rights struggle.

Due to her character, demeanor, and involvement in the Civil Rights Movement,  

Rosa Parks became the face of the Boycott that changed American history.

 

Rosa Parks didn’t mean to become the face of a movement.

She simply did what her conscience led her to do at a moment in time when she was so burdened that she had nothing to lose.

 

May we all be so bold as to follow our hearts and to boldly, or quietly in the vein of Parks, declare when enough is enough.

 

Amen.