Rosa Parks's Influence

Some people believe that being well known or having a position of power is the only way to effectively communicate your beliefs, but the story of Rosa Parks will prove those people wrong time and time again. Her famous act of defiance is remembered as an extremely influential piece of the civil rights movement. Refusing to move out of a bus seat may not be seen like the most heroic thing a person could do, but it made all the difference in earning African American citizens their rights. Born on February 4th, 1913 in Tuskegee Alabama, Rosa Parks was surrounded by hate and violence toward African Americans as she grew. As a child, she lived on her grandparents’ farm outside of town. At night, she could hear the members of the Klu Klux Klan

On this particular December day in 1955, Rosa had just gotten done with her workday and was riding the bus home, just like any other day. She had taken one of the seats in the colored section and sat quietly on the way home. At a stop, more white citizens loaded onto the bus and Rosa was asked to stand up to give somebody else her seat, but she refused. Back in the 50’s, this type of backlash from a black person was not handled kindly, and Rosa was asked to move in a firmer, more suggesting tone, but she remained in her seat. She didn’t move, even when the bus driver threatened (and followed through on) calling the cops. According to the accounts at Henry Ford Museum, many Montgomery citizens including Rosa herself recognized the bus driver she stood up to because of how poorly he treated the blacks he interacted with. It became known that he was responsible for the lynching of a fourteen year old black girl, but still kept his position driving the bus, because that incident was overlooked. This incident was the beginning of what grew into being one of the most well known American protests of all

Her coffin was placed in the United States Capitol Rotunda for two days, usually an honor reserved only for presidents or people of high respect. Comparing the year 2005 to the year 1955, the year of the bus boycott, things had changed so much within those 50 years. African Americans earned the right to vote in 1965, interracial couples being allowed to marry in all fifty states happened in 1967, and Rosa Parks left an influence on how these events managed to play out. Things have changed so much since December 1st 1955 to today, but Rosa strived for a world where people of color wouldn’t be seen as a minority, and being 2016, there is still lots of work to be done. Rosa Parks may be gone now, but the ideas she carried onto the next generation are not. She left her influence on this world by doing something very small scale, not what a person would call rebellious, which grew into one of the most memorable revolutions of the civil rights movement. Nothing is stopping anyone from taking a small step that could someday influence the world, just like Rosa