Group items tagged

The "OnInnovation" website is a really wonderful extension of the Henry Ford Museum.  The Henry Ford Museum is located in Dearborn, MI, very close to Detroit, where Parks resided.  It is known for having restored and exhibited the actual bus in which Parks refused to give up her seat.  This website provides video commentary on the life and impact of Parks provided by museum curators.  The photo is displayed here under the heading "Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Hero." On this site, we see that Parks expresses her desire to possess the same qualities as Septima Clark, a woman who was also in attendance at a seminar Parks attended on civil rights.  This is the first time I have seen a website include this quote by Parks recognizing Septima's influence.

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.

This short essay explains why the NAACP decided to use Rosa Parks' case to advance the Civil Rights movement rather than others before her. Parks was not the first to refuse to give up her seat to a white person, but she was a good candidate for the fight. As in everything political, image is everything. Parks had a better image than a poor unwed pregnant teen or a poor high school dropout working as a maid.

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 article beautifully highlights the life of Rosa Parks and provides background information on both her life and the image in question. This article provides a story and a narrative of the life of Rosa Parks and how she triumphed and advanced the civil rights movement and her legacy remains everlasting today and for the future. The site provides background information on the image that we observed in this unit as it includes it within the context of the story and provides the information in that the image was a staged portrait for Look magazine of Rosa Parks in front of a bus in December of 1956. The finding represents the notion of both femininity and the impact of the civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks never stopped believing in the civil rights cause. She continued to protest world racial injustice. Here is a photo of Rosa Parks protesting South Africa's apartheid.

This Smithsonian site is a great place to get lots of information about many different subjects-including Rosa Parks arrest for riding in an "unauthorized" area of a bus. The details of the arrest record of Mrs. Parks and the (now historical) copies of her fingerprints together with a detailed diagram of the scene of her "crime" are astonishing to see.

This website gives a comprehensive overview of the event that made Rosa Parks famous; her refusal to continue to follow the established rules that she should sit at the back of the bus. The site not only talks about the event itself but also contains much information about Rosa Parks including a video and biography of this iconic figure.

This website provides more context and background to the infamous moment on the Montgomery bus captured in the initial image shown. The lore states that Parks refused to give up the seat because her feet were tired after a long day of working but in reality, she was aware of plans of local activists to challenge the bus laws. Her arrest propelled the civil rights movement forward and resulted in a year long bus boycott. This website presents Rosa Parks angle differently than most others tend to. It's interesting to see her described as a part of the movement as opposed to someone who just happened to be somewhere.

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.

The Rosa Parks Facts website is a thorough, overall location where one can find out anything about Rosa Parks. There is a link to information regarding her home, pictures, video, biography, timeline, early years, later years, her part in the Civil Rights Movement, her arrest, books, quotes, and even a search option to ask any question regarding Rosa Parks. This is a "one-stop-shop" where one can research anything regarding Rosa Parks. Toward the bottom of the page, there are also links to other Civil Rights figures: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and a Barack Obama biography.

This website presents a brief of overview of Rosa Parks historical arrest. During the civil rights movement Ms. Parks chose to sit in a seat on the bus that was not designated for black people. She chose to practice civil disobedience and assert what she felt was her right to be seated wherever she pleased. This website provides another image related to the initial class image, it is an image of her being booked for the crime that she committed. There is a lot to the story and this website gives information about what happened after that moment on the bus.

This website talks about Rosa Parks humble beginnings ans how there were other supporters behind her who were willing to risk their lives to defending the cause. Some of these supporters were 'white.' Clifford and Virginia Durr, encouraged Rosa Parks to go to school and sponsored the long stay. This was the basis for learning who to strategically protest without being or using violence. Then, the real meaning is that Rosa Parks was the front person for other people who believe in equality, and the freedom of other. Rosa Parks endured a great deal of problems for her action, some of them legal, Rosa Parks violated the 'white law of segregation", but it was well worth it. The world benefited.

This site and blog is relevant to our discussion on race and an analysis of the image at hand as it provides us with the background information of race in America and the influence that Rosa Parks had in this regard. Specifically, the site discusses the actions of Rosa Parks and the context in which she lived in how she challenged the Jim Crow Laws and how her actions helped spark the movement that would change American society and culture. The site also provides some background information on the famous photo that we are analyzing in this unit. The contextual and background information provided in this site is useful with our analysis in this unit.

I found another article regarding a woman who refused to give up her seat before Rosa Parks.  The article suggests that people like Irene Morgan Kirkaldy were one of the many people before Rosa Parks.  The article states that Kirkaldy refused to give up her seat more than 10 years before Rosa Parks.  I also like how the article is titled "Fighting Jim Crow Before Rosa Parks."  Transportation was also included in Jim Crow laws.  I am learning so many new things about American history as I do this assignment.  

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 page from the United Tribune website reports the story behind the photo of Rosa Parks that we are studying this week. While I realized that the photo was staged, I did not know that the man seated behind Rosa Parks was a reporter (Nicholas C. Chriss) who worked for the United Press. The page gives some important background information about what the photograph is meant to represent.

Did you know that Rosa Parks was not the first woman to refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger? This link is the biography of Claudette Colvin who at the age of fifteen (That's right, 15) refused to give up her seat for a white passenger in Montgomery Alabama. The reason her arrest was not used by National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was because of her age and the fact that she got pregnant around the same time she got arrested. Claudette's incident happened nine months before the better known Rosa Parks incident.

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 article is a very important article that helps cover and highlight both the influence that Rosa Parks had on the civil rights movement but most importantly helps answer the question as to who the man was behind Rosa Parks in the timeless image that we have been analyzing in this unit. This site and article is especially useful in exploring the image in question as the entire article helps to highlight and explain the image in question. As the article notes, the man in the image is not a segregationist as some may assume to be, but rather is Nicholas C. Chriss who was a reporter working at the time in covering the Civil Rights movement. Details of Mr. Chriss and the meaning of the picture is detailed and explained throughout the article.