Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks: My Story

A big part of this nation’s history was the fight for the civil rights of African Americans. As a result of the civil war, slavery ended and African-Americans, regarded as colored people, were considered free and had the rights to purchase land and move freely within the states. However, the rights between Caucasians and African-Americans weren’t equal, giving them a reason to continue to fight an accomplish equality and respect as human beings. An important figure and role model of this movement was Rosa Parks, which was involved in the fighting towards equality. Parks was known as a passive and non-violent activist; however, there are many moments in her memoir that illustrate a bold disobedience to the rules imposed on her people. In a single act of defiance, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat thus propelling the nation into a movement that would forever change civil rights in America. Rosa Parks demonstrates both a non-violent personality and a violent side in her fighting, however, her biggest fights were passive and it does stand out more in the Civil Rights Movement.
In her autobiography Rosa Parks: My Story, Rosa lets her readers see a part of her that many did not know. She illustrates her suffrage as an African-American woman that was always fighting for what she thought was right and deserved as a human being. Most of her activist movements were engaged in a passive manner; however in her story, she describes a few moments that she displays a more violent approach towards the hatred and disrespectful ways that “whites” gave her. “He said something to me, and he threatened to hit me – balled his fist up as if to give me a sock. I picked up a brick and dared him to hit me” (Parks, 1992, p. 22). Starting at a young age Rosa Parks started to battle the segregation, and in this excerpt for her autobiography it shows that she was willing to be aggressive in order to gain respect and be treated equally to her peers. Parks...

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