Paying Tribute to Rosa Parks Rosa Parks, who died on Monday, October 24 at the age of 92, inspired a nation to act for civil rights in the United States, and the seeds of justice she planted in 1955 have born fruit over the past half-century. The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) pays tribute to Mrs. Parks and honors her lifetime of leadership for racial and social justice. On a Cleveland Avenue bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. Her courageous witness motivated countless women and men to embrace nonviolent resistance to the racist Jim Crow structure of the U.S. South. Four days after her arrest, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was launched, drawing worldwide attention during its 381-ay standoff and galvanizing millions to the cause of civil rights. “Hers was a revolutionary act because it was the spark that ignited a fire in the soul of a people hungry for freedom, and whose actions rearranged the social order,” said Dorothy Cotton, a former staff member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a long-time FOR member. FOR worked closely with Mrs. Parks and other leaders of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and helped organize a national campaign of clergy and lay leaders to support the prophetic actions of the Montgomery community. Rosa Parks’ leadership also raisedup the critical role of women in the civil rights movement – women who were the essential backbone and infrastructure, though men were usually the public face of the movement. “This was during a time when we, as women, were seldom ‘on stage’ but the movement as we know it could not have happened without the work, the teaching and the community organizing done by women,” Cotton said. In fact it was the women of Montgomery who rallied together in the hours following Rosa Parks’ arrest. Within two days, the local Women’s Political Council, led by Jo Ann Robinson, had mimeographed tens of thousands of flyers calling for a boycott, which were distributed in churches the next day. The community and its male leadership was forced to take notice. Mrs. Parks’ principled act provided a catalyst for a new phase in the struggle for civil rights, but it did not launch that struggle. Mrs. Parks often argued that her actions were not unusual or historic. Indeed, there had been several earlier, unsuccessful attempts to desegregate buses in Montgomery and elsewhere. Mrs. Parks, however, had attended a training workshop at the Highlander Center in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, which focused on direct action strategies to oppose segregation. Within the long continuum of civil rights activism, Rosa Parks’ action, in that place, at that time, crystallized into a unique opportunity for the community and for the country. In that sense, she was a catalytic force – one whose quiet determination and steadfastness inspired countless individuals to join the struggle against segregation. Sadly, that struggle is not over. Civil rights is still America’s unfinished business. Contact: |