Rosa Louise Parks: February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005

[terriblelynne]

Thank you, Miss Rosa
You were the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you, Sister Rosa Parks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

Comments

[burgundy.livejournal.com]

There's a little more to it than that - she wasn't just too tired, she was already active in the NAACP, for example. More good information here: http://www.slate.com/id/2128752/

On the one hand, there's something appealing about the idea of history turning on almost accidental events, but I think I like the real story better, if only because furthering the accidental narrative seems disempowering. She was an active, knowledgeable woman, not a pawn of fate or greater forces.

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

Thanks for adding that. :-) I never at all thought she was unaware of the
weight of her decision there...it's just that she was a "normal" person
who made a choice that ended up having huge consequences, and not some
kind of great community leader or whatever at the time, and that's what I
like about her. It took _something_ to spark her willingness to do what she did, instead of her just going, "well, I belong to these organizations and all, but there's nothing I can really do to change anything", which is how a lot of other people would have thought. And I can easily see that activist bent mixed with the feelings of a tired (on many levels) person who was not going to give up her well-deserved bus seat.

People refer to Corazon Aquino as having been "just a homemaker" before
running for President, but I'm very sure she was an intelligent,
informed, educated person as well. I don't know enough about her to know what catalyzed her willingness to act, but I'm sure there was something.



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