Larger-than-life Personality - Rosa Parks - Research Paper Example

Rosa Parks: This paper is primarily based on the largely spoken and extensively researched topic about the larger-than-life personality and astounding achievements of the world renowned person Rosa Parks, whose most distinguished introductory statement is that she was an overwhelmingly enthusiastic African-American civil rights activist, who pursued her riveting civil rights activities vigorously and relentlessly. Rosa Parks is not any other name that can be easily forgotten and kept as an unimportant or unwanted memory in the subconscious mind. It is a name that ignites fervor, enthusiasm, admiration, and bewilderment in a person’s mind owing to the list of daring achievements bagged by Parks which goes on and on. She is that unforgettable and historically epic woman who laid the foundation for the freedom movement in the United States of America (USA). People across the globe irrevocably fall in love for the daring action of defiance taken by Parks, which ignited the blazing fire of civil rights movement that could not be suppressed and which was further potentiated by Martin Luther King, who was assisted by Parks to rise to national prominence in a very short span of time. This paper is basically an effort to present the majorly important facts and discussions related to the myriad daring accomplishments made by Parks in an order to suppress the discriminations faced by the black people in the then largely conservative and white people-dominated society. How a black woman single-handedly organized the scattered civil rights leaders across USA and motivated them to stand united against the overwhelming discriminatory system, is a larger-than-life phenomenon that still leaves many people in utter awe and amazement. Rosa Parks, who lived from 1913 to 2005, was a vigorous civil rights activist, who achieved such prestigious and distinguished titles from the US Congress as “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”, along with receiving many other honors from the government as well, as a result of her mind-blowing and phenomenal freedom movements. (Junaidi). What is absolutely riveting about Rosa Parks is that a single incident in her life initiated a massive and historical civil rights movement. She became a worldwide international emblem of resistance to racial segregation. What could definitely have restricted many other black people, made Parks bold enough to stand against it with her head held high and dignity making an absolute aura around her. Those days, racial segregation and ethnic biases formed a dominant feature of the American society. Prejudice was so prevalent in the American society that black people had to suffer majorly both in their social and professional lives. The pattern of refusing jobs to the eligible black people, who even presented remarkable academic achievements, was nothing new in USA at that time. Unemployment rate and social disgrace was so prevalent among the black people that it led to devastating consequences for them and their families. What aggravated the situation was the fact the white Americans were so heavily supported by the authorities that the black people just could not gather enough courage to stand up against the society fraught with racial segregation and unjustified prejudices. This much needed courage and boldness was at last gathered by a black woman Rosa Parks, aged 42 in 1955 in Alabama, who was not largely known at that time and had not become an international icon yet. (The Obama Diary). Parks straight-off refused to obey the highly unjustified order of the bus driver to empty her seat for a white passenger. This order of the bus driver was fraught with racial discrimination, a concept that was phenomenally common in those days. What was ordered by the bus driver was a requirement that any other black person would have readily fulfilled owing to the paralyzing fear of the dominant white society. But, with Rosa Parks, this just could not be the case because she was such a highly courageous woman who could not take discriminatory attitudes easily and when courage and perseverance as deep as a ocean forms an important feature of a person’s personality, epic histories are often formed. Parks refused to obey the bus driver’s order and did not empty her seat for a white passenger, an action that set in contrast to the then societal behavior. This action of deliberate civil disobedience ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which could not have taken place if Parks had not stood up against the racial discriminatory action. It would definitely not be a hyperbolic statement if it is said that the credit of Montgomery Bus Boycott goes to Rosa Parks and her almost unparallel perseverance. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was actually an important political and social strike campaign that targeted at removing the prevalent policy of racial segregation in special reference to the public transport system. The target of this movement was that the blacks will never be ordered by the bus drivers to leave their seats for the white passengers, thus complying with the unjustified bus drivers’ seat assignments. This protest campaign was actually ignited after Parks got arrested by the police for refusing to comply with the driver’s seating assignment. The height of injustice was that not only was she fined 10$, but also a court cost of 4$. (Montgomery Bus Boycott 51 years ago). Consequently, the boycott was stimulated by her arrest. Not just this civil rights movement, but Park’s daring action formed the bedrock of myriad other distinguished and worth mentioning civil rights movements as well. Summing up, this much becomes clear from the above discussion that Rosa Parks is an example of how sometimes daring actions made by one person start a chain reaction that leads to terrific far-reaching results. Many changes took place after Park’s successful civil rights campaigns, one of which is that the social pressure heightened in USA so much that the federal district court had to rule that the Alabama’s racial segregation laws primarily for bus transports were unjustified and unconstitutional. The Supreme Court also supported the decision made by the Federal Court. The changes brought by Rosa Parks’s achievements extended far beyond the public buses boycott and also inspired Martin Luther King to deliver a historical and magnanimous speech that stimulated many black people to stand up for their rights. Works cited: Junaidi, Wawan. “Rosa Parks Biography – Bio and Profile Civil Rights Activist.” 08 Dec. 2010. Web. 02 Jun. 2011. “Montgomery Bus Boycott 51 years ago!” 04 Jan. 2007. Web. 02 Jun. 2011. < http://stufffromthelab.wordpress.com/2006/12/01/montgomery-bus-boycott-61-years-ago/> The Obama Diary. “55 years ago today……” 01 Dec. 2010. Web. 02 Jun. 2011. < http://theobamadiary.com/2010/12/01/55-years-ago-today/> Read More