She's such a sweet looking little lady. Lots of folks have this folklore idea that she was just too tired to walk to the back of the bus so she sat down.
Not true.
Rosa Parks was a civil rights pioneer. She was a strong, savvy civil rights activist. When she was a teenager she was active in supporting the Scottsboro Boys. When she was 30 she joined the NAACP. A scary, brave thing to do in Montgomery Alabama. That same year she was forced off a bus for accidentally sitting in a seat reserved for whites.
Here's how it worked. There were 14 or so seats reserved for whites in the front of these buses. Since far more blacks rode most of the buses they usually stood while the reserved seats remained vacant. Furthermore, sometimes blacks paid the driver, then stepped off the bus to enter the back door, only to have the driver take off without them.
So, in 1955 Rosa Parks said "enough." She sat in the front and was arrested. That led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. And that led to the end of segregation.
So, thanks Rosa.
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