DOZ Leadership Lessons
Rosa Parks
Eturuvie Erebor
R
osa Parks is famous for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.
Her action helped ignite the civil rights movement and of course, changed the
United States of America. It also brought her into the limelight. She was born
Rosa McCauley on the 4th of February 1913 and died in October 2005 at the age
of 92 years. Rosa grew up at a time when white children rode the bus to school,
and black children walked. And as
if it wasn’t bad enough, as the
buses went by, the white children would hurl their
rubbish at the black children. In her day, if you
tried to defend yourself as a black person
or stand up for yourself against a white
person, you could be lynched. So, you
can appreciate that refusing to give up
her seat took a lot of courage. Rosa
would later marry Raymond Parks
who was an activist and a member
of the National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People.
Together with her husband, Rosa
fought against the segregation of
blacks. Then came the fateful day
in 1955 when she refused to give
up her seat on the bus to a white
man. She was arrested, but it led to
blacks boycotting the buses for 381
days, and eventually, blacks were able to
get their own buses, and black drivers were
employed to drive buses on the black routes.
Rosa became so famous that the United States
Congress referred to her as “the first lady of civil
rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement.”
Her birthday, February 4th, and the day she was
arrested, December 1st, have both become known
as the Rosa Parks Day. In 1990, Nelson Mandela
asked to meet with her during his first visit to the
United States of America following his release from
prison after 27 years. Pope John Paul met with her in
1999 and blessed her in recognition of her Christian
contribution to humanity.
DOZ Magazine May 2018
13 «