Valley Star

Issue date: 10/26/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Rod Lyons

Rosa Parks, considered by many the mother of the civil rights movement, died of natural causes on Monday in her Detroit apartment. She was 92.

Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery, Ala. bus in Dec. 1955 sparked a boycott that led to a Supreme Court ruling that outlawed segregation. Having walked alongside civil rights giants like Martin Luther King Jr., she was an important part of the movement for racial equality.

The unassuming seamstress never imagined that her actions that day would be so historic.

"When I got on the bus that evening I wasn't thinking about causing a revolution or anything of the kind," Parks told author Wayne Greenhaw, who co-wrote a book about the Montgomery bus boycott. "...But when that white driver stepped back toward us ... and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night... I felt a light suddenly shine through the darkness."

The impact of her stand would be felt across the nation for many years, including here at Valley College.

"I feel like everyone should know what she stood for," said Chauntavia Burnley, the Black Student Union president. "Looking at all she went through for what she believed in, there should be no excuse for anyone to not do what they believe in."

President Bush praised Parks in a speech yesterday, calling her "one of the most inspiring women of the 20th century."

She was regarded as an eloquent voice of the civil rights movement, and an advocate of nonviolent protest, according to Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich, who she worked for in the 1960s.

Parks' activism didn't begin or end with the famous bus protest, she was an active member of the civil rights community, having worked in the N.A.A.C.P. voter registration movement and served as a secretary for the local Alabama branch in 1943. After her historic moment, she took part in speeches across the country well into her 80s and won the presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.

Parks' action is a testament to the strong effect one person could have for so many people.

"It's just interesting that when society is ready for something, that an average citizen like that can take a stand and spark a movement," said Valley history instructor John Maddox.

For more information on Rosa Parks, please visit www.lavalleystar.com

Staff writer Greg Kandaharian also contributed to this story.

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