Rosa Parks is probably the single most famous advocate of civil disobedience. Born in 1913 in Alabama Rosa was a a high school graduate and a highly involved member in the NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Almost everyone knows her story of staying seated despite a very illogical set of so called rules. After a long day of work Rosa sat in a bus seat in the front of the bus and when a white man entered the bus and the bus driver ordered her to move for this man. Instead she did not obey this order and continued to remain seated. As expected on December 1st 1955 shortly after refusing the bus drivers command Parks was arrested for disobeying an Alabama state law that stated the blacks must sit in the back of all buses and must give up their seats for a white person if needed. But the civil disobedience did not end with her courageous act of sitting, shortly after the african american population came together and started the widely famous event of boycotting the Montgomery bus system. This movement, lead by Martin Luther King Jr, involved over seventeen thousand members of the NAACP refusing to make use of the bus system and finding many other ways to get around the city. As a group they knew that without their contributions to the bus system that the city of Montgomery would be loosing a large amount of money and would have to take notice that something was up sooner or later. Finally after a whopping 381 days of boycotting the bus system the city acknowledge the problem and at last the case was brought to supreme court. In 1956 the supreme court had decided their ruling and had banned segregation within the public bus system.The true question on this matter is: Is civil disobedience a successful way of changing government policy? In Rosa Parks' case the answer is yes! This supreme court case decision proves that civil disobedience is truly and effective way of changing government policies. After the successes accomplished by the NAACP Rosa Parks was seen as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movements" and was greatly honored with many awards not only in the city of Montgomery but all around the world. Rosa Parks reached this honorable point in her life not by being violent and hostile but instead by being reserved and calm in any situation. she had come to realize that during this time period violence was common and not the most successful way to get what you wanted. This women changed things up with the help of her fellow african americans behind her and sparked a whole new way to make the government see that things needed to change
Timeline
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1913 1955 1965
Parks Born Parks Arrested Supreme Court Ruling
Citations
"Jump Back in Time." . http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/modern/jb_modern_parks_1.htm (accessed ).
Wikimedia Foundation. "Rosa Parks." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks (accessed ).
Timeline
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1913 1955 1965
Parks Born Parks Arrested Supreme Court Ruling
Citations
"Jump Back in Time." . http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/modern/jb_modern_parks_1.htm (accessed ).
Wikimedia Foundation. "Rosa Parks." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks (accessed ).