REAL HEROES - Rosa Parks

We live in society where football players and reality TV contestants are regularly described by the media as 'heroes' - some of them might be but most are not

I'm not sure about you but my heroes tend to be selfless and a lot more heroic and braver than that 

I came up with the idea for 'REAL HEROES' a while back - a series which identifies and celebrates my heroes and you're welcome to download and share them as you please (non-commercial use only)

Some of my heroes have charities and I have included a link  - donate if you can

                                                                                                      

REAL HEROES - Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman boarded a Montgomery City bus to go home from work. She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a white man entered the bus, the driver insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit there. 

Mrs. Parks, who was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat.

Her action was spontaneous and not pre-meditated, although her previous civil rights involvement and strong sense of justice were obvious influences. "When I made that decision," she said later, “I knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me.”

While it’s hard to believe from this distance, America was a very different place in 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested and convicted of civil disobedience. Mrs. Parks appealed her conviction and thus formally challenged the legality of segregation.

Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. 

She acted as a private citizen "tired of giving in". Although widely honoured in later years, she also suffered for her act; she was fired from her job as a seamstress in a local department store.

If you ever think that you are too small and insignificant to make a difference, think of Rosa Parks 

Rosa sat, so that Martin could walk,

Martin walked, so that Obama could run,

Obama ran, so that our children can fly