Beyond The Bus: The Life of Rosa Parks

Early Life

Rosa Macaulay was born in 1913 in Pine Level, Alabama. From a very early age, Rosa knew that the world around her was not the same for everyone. The Southern states were subject to a system of laws that enforced a system of segregation. African Americans were subjected to harsh treatment. There were places where black people were not allowed to sit or visit, like local parks or specific schools. The black communities lived in fear of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group, who terrorised the streets and burned down places of worship.

Rosa recalls in her memoirs the nights that she stayed up with her grandfather while he would sit by the fireplace with his shotgun, protecting the house while the Ku Klux Klan marched past. She says in one of her memoirs, ‘I wanted to see it. I wanted to see him shoot that gun.’

Dr Danielle McGuire, historian and author of, At The Dark End of the Street

Rosa and her family often went to sleep in their clothes, ready should the Klansmen arrive. Beatings, kidnappings and murders were rife in the area. Thankfully, Rosa’s own childhood was largely free of violence.

Rosa’s Refusal

In 1932, Rosa Macaulay became Rosa Parks, and the couple settled into married life in Montgomery. Her husband, Raymond, was an activist. This is something that interested Rosa, too, especially during the rise of violence against black people in the 1940s and 1950s. Rosa found life challenging - she’d had enough of not being allowed to spend her money in the staff canteen; of being forced to eat in a cramped back room adjoining a toilet with no door. Of still not being allowed to drink at the same fountains, eat at the same restaurants, and use the same restrooms as the white people she knew were no better than she was.

On December 1st 1955, Rosa made her stand.

After finishing her shift, Rosa got on a bus home. Rules about where black people could sit on buses were strict. Seats were segregated, and if a white person got on, black people were expected to stand without question. At one of the stops, a white man got on and stood over her, expecting her to move. Rosa barely noticed him. The driver approached, angry that she wasn’t following the rules. He threatened Rosa, saying he would call the police if she didn’t move. Rosa, folding her hands over her purse, replied, ‘You may do that.’

The police were waiting at the next stop. Rosa was taken to Montgomery City Jail, where she was fingerprinted and placed in a cell.

How Rosa Changed the World

Little did Rosa know it, but her quiet act of rebellion would spark a revolution. Black people began boycotting buses. Taxis lowered their rates, and more people took to the sidewalks. Four days later, at Rosa’s hearing, 42000 protesters surrounded the courthouse. Soon, an organisation focused on advancing the rights of black people elected a new leader to take charge of the burgeoning civil rights movement. His name was Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Change did not happen overnight, but it did come. Schools and buses abolished segregation, and black people were allowed in places they were previously banned from entering.

Remembering Rosa

Rosa Parks is still remembered because of the weight of her “no” on the bus. In her later years, she was awarded many honours. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, congressional honours and honorary doctorates from around the world. Roads, train stations, centres of learning and even an asteroid were named after her.

In 2005, Rosa Parks died at the age of 92. Her casket was taken to Washington DC on a bus similar to the one she boarded 50 years previously. She was the first woman and only the second Black person in US history to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. Fifty-thousand people came to pay their respects. At her seven-hour funeral, she was honoured by Senator Barack Obama. Condoleezza Rice addressed the mourners, telling them that she would likely never have become Secretary of State without Rosa Parks.