"MARKS BEGINNING OF MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT"

ROSA PARKS ARRESTED FOR VIOLATING SEGREGATION CODE

Montgomery, Alabama (JFK+50) On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks* was arrested here in Montgomery for violating the city's segregation code.

On her way home from work, Mrs. Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in the downtown area.  She took a seat three rows back in the first row reserved for "colored."

At the bus's third stop, the driver ordered Mrs. Parks and three other black passengers to give up their seats for the boarding white passengers.  While the other passengers complied, Mrs. Parks did not.  

Rosa Parks was arrested, taken to jail and charged.  Her arrest marks the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott**. a pivotal event in the civil rights movement. 

*Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (1913-2005) was born in Tuskegee, Alabama.  She became an activist in the civil rights movement & dubbed the '1st lady of civil rights' & 'mother of the civil rights movement.'  RLM published her autobiography "Rosa Parks:  My Story," in 1992. 

**Montgomery Bus Boycott (Dec 1955 - Dec 1956) a political & social protest campaign against the Alabama city's policy of racial segregation on its' public transit system.

SOURCE

"Rosa Parks," National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/ 

   

 

Rosa Parks Statue

National Statuary Hall

Washington, D.C.

by AOC/USCapitol

 

ROSA PARKS WAS TIRED...TIRED OF GIVING IN

ROSA PARKS ARRESTED FOR VIOLATION OF SEGREGATION CODE

Montgomery, Alabama (JFK+50) Sixty-two years ago, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks* was arrested here in Montgomery for violation of the city's segregation code, Chapter 6, Section 11.  Ms. Parks, on her way home from work, boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in downtown Montgomery at 6 p.m.  She sat five rows back in the first row reserved for African-Americans.

When the bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, bus driver James Blake ordered Ms. Parks and three other black passengers to give up their seats to the boarding white passengers.  While the other passengers followed Blake's directions,  Rosa Parks did not.

Rosa later recalled...

"When that white driver stepped back toward us...and ordered us out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

Mr. Blake called the police and Ms. Parks was arrested, taken to jail, and charged.  Ironically, it was the same driver who had put Rosa Parks off his bus in 1943.  Rosa said after the years passed that some people claimed she was "tired" on that day, but, in her own words, she was just "tired of giving in."  

Rosa Parks was found guilty of violating segregation laws, given a suspended sentence and fined $10 plus $4 court costs.  The arrest and sentencing of Rosa Parks led directly to establishment of the Montgomery Improvement Association by Rev. Ralph Abernathy and other ministers.  They chose Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as its president.

One week later, Rev. King said...

"There comes a time that people get tired.  We...are tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression."

*Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913.  She had to walk to her elementary school while fellow white students rode the bus.   RLMP was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999 as the 'Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.'  She died at the age of 92 on Oct 24, 2005.

SOURCE

"We Shall Overcome:  The History of the Civil Rights Movement As It Happened," by Herb Boyd, Sourcebooks Inc., Naperville, IL, 2004.

Bill Clinton Honors Rosa Parks

ROSA PARKS

ROSA PARKS ARRESTED 59 YEARS AGO TODAY

Montgomery, Alabama (JFK+50) Fifty-nine years ago today, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, now acknowledged as 'the mother of the civil rights movement,' was arrested here in Montgomery for violation of the city's segregation code, Chapter 6, Section 11.

Ms. Parks, on her way home from work, boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in downtown Montgomery at 6 p.m.  She sat five rows back in the first row reserved for African-Americans.

When the bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, driver James Blake ordered Ms. Parks and three other black passengers to give up their seats to the boarding white passengers. While the other passengers followed Blake's directions,  Rosa Parks did not.

Rosa Parks and MLK

 Montgomery, AL (1955)

 US Information Agency Photo

Rosa later recalled...

"When that white driver stepped back toward us...and ordered us out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

Mr. Blake called the police and Ms. Parks was arrested, taken to jail, and charged.  Ironically, it was the same driver who had put Rosa Parks off his bus in 1943.

When JFK+50 visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, we learned that Mrs. Park's action was not the first of its kind in the city and that she had training in non-violent protest. 

Rosa was trained at the Highlander Folk School which specialized in the training of activists for worker's rights and later civil rights. The school was founded by Myles Horton and board members included Eleanor Roosevelt.

While Rosa Parks was "prepared" to do what she did, it was she who decided when it was time to do it.

That time came on the first day of December, 1955.

Rosa said after the years passed that some people claimed she was "tired" on that day, but, in her own words, she was just "tired of giving in."

Cleveland Avenue BusHenry Ford Museum Source: Eege Fot vum

Rosa Parks was found guilty of violating segregation laws, given a suspended sentence and fined $10 plus $4 court costs.

The arrest and sentencing of Rosa Parks led directly to establishment of the Montgomery Improvement Association by Rev. Ralph Abernathy and other ministers.  They chose Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as its president.

One week later, Rev. King said...

"There comes a time that people get tired.  We...are tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression."

SOURCE

"We Shall Overcome:  The History of the Civil Rights Movement As It Happened," by Herb Boyd, Sourcebooks Inc., Naperville, IL, 2004.

JFK+50 TOP TEN POSTS #4

JFK+50 TOP POST #4

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Today we continue a review of the ten most popular posts of our JFK+50 blog since we began in November 2010.  This review will include updates and revisions of the original posts. 

Thanks to all our visitors worldwide.

ROSA PARKS TIRED OF GIVING IN 

December 1, 2011, Montgomery, Alabama (JFK+50) Fifty-six years ago today, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks* was arrested here in Montgomery for violation of the city's segregation code, Chapter 6, Section 11.

 Rosa Parks and MLK

 Montgomery, AL (1955)

 US Information Agency Photo

Ms. Parks, on her way home from work, boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in downtown Montgomery at 6 p.m.  She sat five rows back in the first row reserved for African-Americans.

When the bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, bus driver James Blake ordered Ms. Parks and three other black passengers to give up their seats to the boarding white passengers.

While the other passengers followed Blake's directions,  Rosa Parks did not.

Rosa later recalled...

"When that white driver stepped back toward us...and ordered us out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

Mr. Blake called the police and Ms. Parks was arrested, taken to jail, and charged.  Ironically, it was the same driver who had put Rosa Parks off his bus in 1943.

When JFK+50 visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, we learned that Mrs. Park's action was not the first of its kind in the city and that she had training in non-violent protest. 

Rosa was trained at the Highlander Folk School** which specialized in the training of activists for worker's rights and later civil rights. The school was founded by Myles Horton and board members included Eleanor Roosevelt.

While Rosa Parks was prepared to do what she did, it was she who decided when it was time to do it.

That time came on the first day of December, 1955.

Rosa said after the years passed that some people claimed she was tired on that day, but, in her own words, she was just "tired of giving in."

              Cleveland Avenue Bus

               Henry Ford Museum

              Source: Eege Fot vum

Rosa Parks was found guilty of violating segregation laws, given a suspended sentence and fined $10 plus $4 court costs.

The arrest and sentencing of Rosa Parks led directly to establishment of the Montgomery Improvement Association by Rev. Ralph Abernathy and other ministers.  They chose Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as its president.

One week later, Rev. King said...

"There comes a time that people get tired.  We...are tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression."

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was initiated.

Lasting 4 days short of a year, the action cost the bus company a great deal of money because most of their customers were black.  

The stand against segregation did not come without costs.  The homes of Dr. King and E.D. Nixon, head of the Montgomery branch of the NAACP, were bombed.

Southern United States senators issued a manifesto opposing the Supreme Court decision to desegregate American schools.

The High Court, however, went on to declare segregation of public transportation in Montgomery unconstitutional.

Statue of Rosa Parks

US Capitol (2013)

Photo by Farragutful

*Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913.  She had to walk to her elementary school while fellow white students rode the bus.  In 1955, she worked as a seamstress and was secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP.

Rosa was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999 as the 'Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.'  She died at the age of 92 on Oct 24, 2005.

Bill Clinton Honors Rosa Parks

**Highlander Research and Education Center was founded as the Highlander Folk School in Grundy County, Tennessee in 1932.  During the 1950s, it became a training center for members of SNCC including Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis, Bernard Lafayette and others.

Having lost its charter, the school moved to Knoxville in 1961 where it operated for the next decade.

In 1971, the Center moved to its current location in New Market, Tennessee where its focus is now on issues of democratic participation and economic justice.

Highlander Center

New Market, TN.

Photo by John White (2008)

Highlander Center

New Market, TN.

Photo by John White (2008)

SOURCE

"We Shall Overcome:  The History of the Civil Rights Movement As It Happened," by Herb Boyd, Sourcebooks Inc., Naperville, IL, 2004.

FIRST ELECTORAL COLLEGE

FIRST ELECTORAL COLLEGE MET 225 YEARS AGO

New York City (JFK+50) The members of the first College of Electors chose George Washington of Virginia as the 1st President of the United States 225 years ago today, February 4, 1789.

George Washington University

Georgetown, D.C. (2011)

Photo by John White

With each elector having two votes to cast, General Washington received 1 vote from every elector thus making his election unanimous.

The final tally was...

George Washington, Federalist 69
John Adams, Federalist 34
All others 35

Others receiving votes included...

John Jay, Federalist 9
John Rutledge, Federalist 6
John Hancock, Federalist 4
George Clinton, Anti-federalist 3

The electors, who were selected on January 7, 1789, met in their respective states as is required by the United States Constitution.

By the rules of that time, the runner-up became Vice-President.  John Adams, thus, became Vice-President elect.

Adams matched Washington's vote total in only two states, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Electors from eleven states participated in the voting.

Because North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the Constitution, those states were not represented while New York did not send their electors.

SOURCE

"The Papers of George Washington," www.gwpapers.virginia.edu/


THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE REVISITED

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) The Electoral College has been the subject of much controversy over the years.  There are some, even today, who would argue that it should be abolished.  

If the popular vote had been the sole means of determination of a winner, Tennessee's own Albert Gore, Jr. would have been the 43rd United States President.

So why did our Founding Fathers, who are rightly honored by their descendants today, establish the College in the first place?

According to William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director of the FEC Office of Election Administration, the Founding Fathers realized that the 13 states were...

"jealous of their own rights and powers and suspicious of any central...government."

It was also a factor that people of that day believed political parties to be "downright evil"* and that "gentlemen should not campaign for...office."

*This is partially true today as some Americans tend to believe their own political party is fine, it's just the other one that is 'downright evil.'

So it wasn't that the Founding Fathers thought the people were ignorant, but...

 "feared without sufficient information...(they) would naturally vote for a 'favorite son' from their own...state."

In that case, the state with the larger populations would have a distinct advantage.

The idea of the electoral college was not really new, it can be traced back to the days of the Roman Empire.

Accordingly, ARTICLE II, SECTION I of the United States Constitution sets up an Electoral College with the total number of electors from each state being the total of their number of senators + representatives.

It provides for a winner take all system where the candidate with the majority of the popular vote in a state receives ALL electoral votes of that state.

Further, each elector initially had two votes, one of which had to be for a candidate outside their own state.  

There was no voting put in place for Vice-President, but the runner-up in the electoral vote would become VP.

The votes of the electoral college, meeting separately in each state, were sealed and delivered to the President of the Senate who was to open and read the results to a joint session of Congress.

The "first design," as Mr. Kimberling refers to it, of the Electoral College was in effect for the first four presidential elections.

In 1800, however, there was a TIE between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson forcing the House of Representatives to determine the outcome.

The 12th Amendment** (1804) reduced the vote of each elector to ONE for President and ONE for Vice-President.

Mr. Kimberling tells us that...

"the fundamental workings of the Electoral College...have not (been) further altered since the 12th Amendment."

**Tennessee ratified the 12th Amendment a month after it became law of the land on June 15, 1804.

SOURCE

"The Electoral College," by William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC Office of Election Administration, May 1992. www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf


MOTHER OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT BORN 101 YEARS AGO 

Tuskegee, Alabama (JFK+50) Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, the acknowledged mother of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, was born here in Tuskegee 101 years ago today, February 4, 1913.

                   Congressional Gold Medal

Mrs. Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated public bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955.

Her arrest set off a bus boycott that led to desegregation of public transportation in the city.

Rosa Parks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a statue in the US Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Upon her death at the age of 92 in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

ROSA PARKS

On December 1, 1955, 55 years ago today, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama.  She refused to give up her seat on a public bus when asked to do so by the bus driver.


This was in violation of the city's segregation laws.  Mrs. Parks, a seamstress, was on her way to work but she also was a member of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP.  

I was a participant in the "Tennessee Civil Rights Workshop for Teachers" a few years ago.   

We visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis where we learned that Mrs. Park's action was not the first of its kind in the city & that she had training in non-violent protest.  


She was "prepared" to do what she did but it was she who would decide when to do it.

Mrs. Park's arrest led directly to the Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 


The boycott, lasting 381 days, cost the bus company a great deal of money as most of their bus riders were black.  


The boycott came to an end when the Supreme Court ruled segregation laws on public transportation in Montgomery were unconstitutional. 


Segregation in public transportation did not come to an end nationally until passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  


This act was proposed by JFK but did not have enough support in Congress until after his death.

Rosa Parks, the "First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement" died in 2005 at the age of 92.

Please check out my JFK website at www.freewebs.com/jrwhite21/