Thursday, December 01, 2005
Rosa Parks banner
I've changed the banner again - from Einstein to Rosa Parks.
The first of December is the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. At that time in the southern United States, buses were routinely segregated into 'White only' and 'coloured' sections. People in the 'coloured section' were required to give up their seats if the 'white only' section was full.
Segretation extended into every area of society - from water fountains to where people were allowed to shop or buy houses.
Rosa Parks wasn't the first person to protest by refusing to give up her bus seat but her case had the most impact. On the day of her trial, the public bus service was boycotted - and the Montgomery Bus boycot was to last 381 days. Martin Luther King Jr. was the president of the group organising the boycot; the Montgomery Improvement Association.
Rosa Parks was found guilty of disorderly conduct and fined 10$ but she became a figurehead of the American Civil Rights Movement which eventually succeeded in ending racial segregation and discrimination.
The bus in the illustration is based on a 1950s American Ford bus and is painted in similar colours to the original bus involved in Rosa Park's protest.
civil rights movement