THE ARREST RECORDS OF ROSA PARKS

AN ACT OF COURAGE

THE OVERVIEW• On December 1, 1955, during a typical

evening rush hour in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42-year-old woman took a seat on the bus on her way home from the Montgomery Fair department store where she worked as a seamstress. She sat in the black section of the bus, just like she was supposed to. But before she reached her destination, she quietly set off a social revolution that would change the South, the laws of the nation, and the mindset of an entire nation.

THE PROBLEM• On the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama, the front

10 seats were permanently reserved for white passengers. Mrs. Parks was seated in the first row behind those 10 seats – the black section of the bus. • But, when the bus became crowded, the bus driver

instructed Mrs. Parks and the other three passengers seated in that row, all African Americans, to vacate their seats for the white passengers boarding. Everybody - every black body – was expected to get out of that row of seats so that just one white man could sit there. • Eventually, three of the passengers moved, while

Mrs. Parks remained seated, arguing that she was not in a seat reserved for whites.

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THE LAWS OF THE SOUTH

• Joseph Blake, the driver, believed he had the right to move the line separating black and white passengers. So, when Mrs. Parks defied his order, he called the police. • Officers Day and Mixon came and promptly

arrested her.• Rosa Parks, an African American, was

arrested that day for violating a city law requiring racial segregation of public buses.

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THE ARREST• In police custody, Mrs. Parks was booked, fingerprinted, and briefly jailed. The police report shows that she was charged with "refusing to obey orders of bus driver." • But there was more to worry about than just being arrested. For openly challenging the racial laws of her city, she (and her family!) remained at great physical risk while held by the police. Her family was terrified for her. When she called home, she spoke to her mother, whose first question was "Did they beat you?"

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THE IMPACT• Rosa Parks was certainly not the first person to

be arrested for breaking the racial segregation laws on the city buses in Montgomery. But she was a woman who was respected by her community. Her arrest became a rallying point and was used as an example.• After her arrest, the African American

community organized a bus boycott to protest racial discrimination. Martin Luther King, Jr., the 26-year-old minister of the local Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, emerged as a leader during the peaceful boycott that lasted 381 days. (That’s over a year!) It captured the world's attention.

THE OUTCOME• After Mrs. Parks was convicted under city law, her

lawyer filed an appeal. While her appeal was tied up in the state court, the U.S. District Court ruled in another case (Browder v. Gayle ) that racial segregation of public buses was unconstitutional.• Thanks to the bus boycott, Reverend Martin Luther

King, Jr., first became famous as he gave speeches and led a successful non-violent protest, a method he would continue to use.• And for a quiet act of defiance that resonated

throughout the world, Rosa Parks is known and revered as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement."

I HEARD IT ON THE BUS ONE DAY

I drive the busevery day.

Are you getting on or not?

Get to the back of the bus.

every day.

I ride the busevery day.

I get on and pay.

I move to the back.

every day.

I HEARD IT ON THE BUS ONE DAY

One dayI was drivingAnd this womanI tell her to get up and let a white man sit. She doesn’t move.

That’s when it all started.

One dayI was ridingAnd this sister

She doesn’t move.

That’s when it all started.

I HEARD IT ON THE BUS ONE DAY

Montgomery, Alabama

That Black preacherstartedtrouble.

We waited.And screamed and yelled.

381 days.

Holt Street Baptist Church

Montgomery, AlabamaMartin Luther King, Jr.startedThe Movement.

We walked.And walked and walked.

381days.

I HEARD IT ON THE BUS ONE DAY

They made us

integratebut we weren’t done yet.

And that’s how it all started.

Refusing to obey.

They made usprotest

To keep our dignity.

And that’s how it all started.

Refusing to obey.

- By Jeff Sapp