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Ever wonder what happened to the bus in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on December 01, 1955? It was found deteriorating, rusted, with broken or missing windows, and no engine or seats in a field. In 2002, Save America's Treasures awarded the Henry Ford Museum $205,000 federal challenge grant to restore the bus to its 1955 appearance. The restoration was successful and today it is boarded by (up to) thousands of visitors per day.

As I was a big fan of the Scholastic book club flyers that I would receive in school, I was excited to see what their website had to offer.  The website contains resources for educators and young readers alike with sections dedicated to teachers, students, and librarians.  The site encourages literacy with the use of bold and colorful images.  The famed photo of Rosa Parks can be found in the section of the website entitled "Culture and Change: Black History in America."  Here, we see several pages dedicated to pivotal moments in Parks's life.  If you click on "court ruling" you will see the photograph.  This page informs us that the day after the segregation laws are deemed unconstitutional, Parks is accompanied by Martin Luther King, Jr. onto a city bus.  This shows us the magnitude of Parks's contribution to the cause.

This website is a great Quick Facts snapshot of information regarding Rosa Parks with a 4.5 minute biography video. This website contains sections of a Synopsis, Civil Rights Pioneer, Early Life and Education, Ordered to the Back of the Bus, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Racial Discrimination, and Death and Legacy. There is also a photo gallery and videos, quotes and a "Best Known For" section which states that Rosa Parks was best known for her refusal to give up a seat on the bus to a white passenger, which spurred the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end racial segregation.

I think that this is an interesting picture for many reasons. Firstly, it not only shows how far civil rights have come, it shows how far the United States of America still has to go. This picture means a lot to me because I think too often in America, people have the terrible case of forgetting. This picture is a reminder of our history. Also, I think this is an important article/picture because President Obama referred to the American dream in his response to his visit. The American dream continues to change--especially since civil rights issues continue to take place more than 50 years later. And, it also shows that we need to continue to preserve our history.

In the southern town of Indianola, Mississippi, a number of segregated schools still exist and thrive to this day. Inexpensive private schools for white children were founded in response to federal orders of desegregation between the years of 1964-1972. The stark difference between the resources available for the white schools as oppose to black schools is blatant - run down buildings, spotty internet, and outdated learning materials plague the public schools predominantly attended by black students. I believe this article is relevant to the Parks' photo because it shows us that even though this country has made strides in regards to equality, blatant segregation still exists.

This article in the African American History section of About.com gives a brief biographical summary of Parks' life and civil rights accomplishments. Interestingly, it mentions that Parks' was aware of the divide between black and white people as a child, "I'd see the bus pass every day. But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and white world." It is apparent that Parks' would no longer accept what was custom the day she refused to give up her seat on that Montgomery bus. The African American History section on About.com has an extensive collection of historical information, timelines, video clips, facts of African American activists, writers, artists, politicians, and quite a bit of information on Parks and the Civil Rights movement.

The author of this blog post beseeches the reader to not just view Parks as a demure, passive woman whose one-off contribution to civil rights was not giving up her seat, but as a deeply committed activist whose memory and contributions put her side by side with other civil rights icons such as Martin Luther King Jr. This article was posted on the Ms. Magazine.com blog site, a blog that highlights women's issues written about, by female writers. I believe it appropriate to discuss the feminist angle regarding Rosa Park's historic action. She stood up for her rights not only during a time of segregation, but also a time of clear gender divisions, a time when all women were still considered second class citizens. I did a search on Google for Rosa Parks and feminism, and this blog post came up. When I did a search of Rosa Park's name in the site's search engine, I found more than a dozen articles/posts detailing Park's story and a few mentions of other black female activists such as Shirley Chisholm, the first black female member of Congress, freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, and Flo Kennedy, one of the founding members of the National Organization for Women.

This site is a publication in which uses an excerpt from the book Free At Last: The U.S. Civil Rights Movement. This excerpt focuses on Rosa Parks, who's also known as the Mother of Civil Rights. This site provides us with a brief biography of Rosa's life. It speaks of her role in Montgomery Bus Boycott and what shaped her as a child to become a quiet activist. Later in life, Parks was acknowledged and presented with an award by President Bill Clinton. When Parks died in 2005, her body was approved by Congress to rotunda of the US Capitol. Parks is the first women, second black person, and the 31st person granted this honor.

This site gives detailed information about the actual events that led up to the decision by Rosa Parks to defy the "back of the bus" rule. It also shows a picture of the bus on which this event took place. Interestingly it covers why "busing" was so integral to the whole idea of racial injustice in the South and the reason why the bus boycott was such a symbolic action towards Civil Rights.

What Rosa Parks did in 1955 was huge for African Americans; however, she was not the first to stand her ground and not get up from her seat. There were others that were brave, but they did not receive the notoriety that Ms. Parks received. Rosa's status as a civil rights activist made her the perfect African American to fight this cause. I say that she was perfect to fight the cause because other black leaders thought that she could gain white support. With white support, along with other black activists including Dr. King a boycott was started. I personally think that instead of a boycott, black people should have worked together to start their own bus company. Instead of trying to prove that blacks were equal to whites, I feel blacks during that time should have been trying to create their own. In my opinion black people would be better off today.

Rosa Parks is a hero! Her unintended action created the basis for the civil right movement and encourage other activist to walk under her shadow to succeed in fighting for equality. African Americans benefited from her action, which was very dignified. Humble beginning, and some much to offer to the world.

This website not only discusses how Rosa Parks helped African Americans, but how she also helped women. In those days, women weren't allowed to do much as it was. Rosa Parks changed that in some way when she stood up to a white man on a bus. Rosa Parks single handedly changed the bus rules where African Americans were not only allowed to ride the bus and sit anywhere, but were allowed to apply for jobs as drivers as well. This website is useful in exploring the image because it shows you how one woman had an effect on an entire race. The website even uses the image on it's main page.

Rosa Parks is considered not only hero, but an African American woman who stood up to injustice and decided to take a peaceful stand against segregation. Rosa Parks gave African Americans a sense of dignity that was soon reaffirmed by being able to ride the bus, just like the "whites" did. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was able to use Rosa Park's actions as a platform to claim freedom and equality. This action, caused the African Americans to start realizing that they were equal to the whites. This gave them a sense of entitlement and lead to other movements that benefited all human beings, not only in the United States of America, but all over the world. This "woman" is truly a hero. Walking alone the street in Montgomery county, just like the whites did, was a triumph step towards equality.

This site tells the story of the infamous day when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. Rosa Parks gives her own detailed description of the days events. In my opinion her most interesting thought was that she had no idea that what she had just done would change the course of American history forever. She had no idea of how people would react to her arrest. This is useful in exploring the image because now you have some first hand dialogue to go with the image after visiting this website.

Rosa Parks is quoted as saying, "I thought about Emmett Till, and I could not go back. My legs and feet were not hurting, that is a stereotype. I paid the same fare as others, and I felt violated." Many of us know about the story of Emmitt Till, and plenty of us do not. The year of 1955 and prior year's race was largely marginalized by class, but probably more by nationality, as Roderick A. Ferguson states in his excerpt "Race. Queer formations are excepted when one is white but not queers of color. According to freedom's relation to unfreedom to modern ethics, different permutation of morality continue to shape social formations (Roderick A. Ferguson). To Emmitt Till, a 14 year old African American teenager, I find that this was and still is the case in the year of 2013. I won't go into detail of how this young boy on vacation was damaged, but his murder and the trial became largely energy serge for moral courage, that Mrs. Park's used along with other ill treatment's she experienced to stand her ground. The Emmett Till case was a spark for a new generation to commit their lives to social change; as stated by historian Robin Kelley. Robin Kelley also states that the case was not just about the murder of a teenage boy, but about transforming the south so that no one would have to die like Mr. Till. Civil rights activists used the murder of Emmett Till as a rallying cry for civil rights protest, transforming a monstrous crime into a springboard for justice. The Montgomery Bus Boycott followed closely on the heels of the case. This site adds to this platform the importance of understanding how history can spark reactions in our society, and further shape our society. Heidi Beckles

Months prior to Parks arrest for civil disobedience, four other women had been arrested for refusing to give up their seat on a bus as well. One of the more well-known women of the group was 15 year old Claudette Colvin who like Parks was involved with the NAACP - Colvin was a mentee of Parks. Originally the boycott and civil action case was to be centered around Colvin until it was discovered that she was pregnant and had trouble keeping composed when upset. Parks arrest was chosen to launch a challenge against segregation laws due to her impeccable character and reputation. Colvin and the three other women, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith re-emerged when they agreed to file a civil action on February 1, 1956. The outcome of this civil action was a panel of three judges agreed 'that Montgomery segregation codes "deny and deprive plaintiffs and other Negro citizens similarly situated of the equal protection of the laws and due process of law secured by the Fourteenth Amendment."'

This site takes a look into women who attended college during the late 1800s and early 1900s. These women were determined to get an education. In 1870, only .7% of students were women. By 1920, it was still only 7.6%. It wasn't until the Women's Movement that woman made a significant appearance in colleges. I thought this site gave a good background to the presence of women in college before and leading up to the Women's Movement, which helps understand the impact the movement had.

A New Woman is defined as a woman who worked, thus had more economic independence, making her less reliant on her husband or father. Their jobs were generally low paying, and the settings were usually in factories or department stores. They fought to change the idea of male dominance. One woman discussed is Colleen Moore, one of the first flappers, or a woman who wore short skirts, bobbed hair, listened to jazz, and showed disdain for conventional dress and behavior. An interesting fact about this site is that it comes from Prof. Lavender's course in women's studies program through the College of Staten Island/CUNY.

The American Civil Liberties Union seeks to "defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties" that are afforded to citizens as outlined in the U.S. Constitution. This page from the ACLU site addresses LGBT rights and seeks to allow LGBT individuals to live "free of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity". The history of LGBT civil rights cases goes back to 1936 and continues to this day.

The stories surrounding gay liberation, protests and marches that set the platform for gay and lesbian acceptance. 

History.com displays a very informative set of videos, images and articles discussing the meaning behind "Rosie the Riveter", the iconic image associated with gender equality. World War II marked the beginning of changes in gender ideologies as women found themselves carrying out duties that were typically filled by men. Women were also called to the war and the empowerment of a revolution began. 

This source provides a quick glimpse into who Diana Davies is and what she is most known for, photographing American civil rights and folk imagery. Though the description given is brief, links are provided to explore further Davies's other photographic works and a more in-depth biography can be found. Through this source we are afforded the opportunity to better understand who Davies is and understand her significance and personal attachment to the civil rights movement. You will find that Davies has photographed many significant facets of American history.