1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,880 Speaker 1: Lauren Boglebaum here. Most of us know Rosa Parks as 3 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: the African American woman who quietly but firmly refused to 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: give up her bus seat to a white person on 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:21,279 Speaker 1: December one, n in Montgomery, Alabama. That small act of 6 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: resistance sparked the year long Montgomery Bus Boycott, which in 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: turn kickstarted national efforts to end racial segregation in the 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: United States. In honor of that, we wanted to fill 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: in some of the often misunderstood circumstances surrounding parks resistance. 10 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: To start with. This wasn't some totally random act. Parks 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: was a lifelong activist, and she came from a family 12 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: of activists. Parks was born in nineteen thirteen to James 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: and Leona mcaulay. The couple separated two years later, and 14 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: Parks's mother moved the family to her parents farm in 15 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: Pine Level, Alabama. Park's grandparents, Rose and Sylvester Edwards, were 16 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: former slaves who strongly believed in racial equality. One of 17 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: parks early memories was of her grandfather's standing guard with 18 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: his shotgun as the Ku Klux Klan marched down their street. 19 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: And of him telling her stories about black history and 20 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: courageous figures like Crisps Attics, Harriett Tebman, and Marcus Garvey. 21 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty two, when she was nineteen, Rosa McCauley 22 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: married Raymond Parks, an active member of the National Association 23 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: for the Advancement of Colored People or n double A CP, 24 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: Parks began her civil rights activism shortly after graduating from 25 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: high school and continued until shortly before her death in 26 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: two thousand five at age ninety two. She served for 27 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: years as secretary to the president of n w A 28 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: CPS Montgomery Chapter. Parks also worked on issues such as 29 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: voter registration, desegregation of schools and public spaces, and justice 30 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: for black victims of white brutality. In addition, she participated 31 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: in numerous major civil rights events, such as the nineteen 32 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: sixty three March on Washington and the nineteen sixty five 33 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: Selma to Montgomery March. Parks was also an activist for 34 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: women's rights and ending the Vietnam War. At one time, 35 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: she served on the board of Planned Parenthood. When she 36 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: made her famous stand, it wasn't her first interaction with 37 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: the bus driver. The driver James E. Blake often made 38 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 1: derogatory marks to African Americans, especially women. He also made 39 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: black people get off his bus after paying, then reboard 40 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: in the rear, and sometimes he'd drive away before they 41 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: got back. On twelve years before the boycott in nineteen 42 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: forty three, Blake tried to make Parks reboard after paying. 43 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: She refused, and he tried to push her off the bus. 44 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: After that, Parks avoided Blake's bus no matter what, But 45 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: on that faithful day she didn't notice Blake was the 46 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: driver when she stepped on board. Her family reports that 47 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: Parks was distracted thinking about Emmett till as news had 48 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: just come out that his lynchers were going to go free. 49 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: But about that famous stand. In telling the story, sometimes 50 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: it's mistakenly said that she sat in the whites only section. 51 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,639 Speaker 1: What really happened was this. In Montgomery's buses had thirty 52 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: six seats. The first ten were reserved for white people, 53 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: the middle sixteen were first come, first served, with priority 54 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: given to white people, and the last ten were for 55 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: black people. Parks sat down in the first row of 56 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,519 Speaker 1: the middle section, next to a black man two black 57 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: women's out across the aisle. The other black people got 58 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: up when Blake told them to. Parks, as we know, 59 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,800 Speaker 1: did not, and she didn't refuse to give up her 60 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: best seat because her feet hurt. She wrote in her autobiography, 61 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: I was not tired physically, or no more tired than 62 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: I usually was at the end of a working day. 63 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: I was not old, although some people have an image 64 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: of me as being old then I was forty two. No, 65 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: the only tired I was was tired of giving in. 66 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: Several months before Parks refused to give up her seat, 67 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: fifteen year old Claudette Colvin did the same thing, but 68 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: unlike Parks, Colvin made a scene and was physically removed 69 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: by police officers. Some say parks refusal ignited the boycott 70 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: and not Colvin's because Parks was calm, polite, and slightly older, 71 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: which made her more s at figure, and Parkes was 72 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: well known and liked in the community through her work 73 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: with the n double a c P. However, it was Colvin, 74 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: not Parks, who was part of the lawsuit changing the 75 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: constitutionality of bus segregation in Montgomery. You may have seen 76 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: photos of Parks mug shot or being fingerprinted, but those 77 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: are not from that first famous arrest there from two 78 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: months later, with the Montgomery bus boycott going strong, when 79 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: Parks was helping arrange carpool rides to people who refused 80 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: to ride the buses, on February twenty ninety six, a 81 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: grand jury indicted Parks and others for violating in Alabama 82 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 1: law prohibiting organized boycotts. Once again, Parks was arrested and jailed. 83 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: The Montgomery bus boycott lasted one days and ended when 84 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court said segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional. 85 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: Although the boycott was a success, it threw Rosa and 86 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,119 Speaker 1: Raymond parks life into turmoil. Montgomery Fair Department store, where 87 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: Parks worked as a seamstress, fired her. Raymond was also 88 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: fired his job after his boss said he couldn't talk 89 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: about Rosa or the boycott at work. The couple, who 90 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: had received threatening phone calls, death threats, and hate mail 91 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,720 Speaker 1: during the boycott, continued to receive them for years after. 92 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty seven, after neither could find steady employment 93 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: in Montgomery, they joined Rose's brother and cousins in Detroit, 94 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: taking along her mother, Leona, But even in Detroit, Parks 95 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: had trouble finding work. Finally, in nineteen sixty five, she 96 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: was hired as an administrative assistant for Congressman John Conyers, Jr. 97 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: A position she held until her nine five retirement. Parks 98 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: died in two thousand five, and her body lay in 99 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: honor at the US Capital Rotunda, the first woman to 100 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: receive that distinction, but she remained an activist all her life. 101 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: In at the age of eighty one, she was mugged 102 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: by a young black man, a crime that many pundits 103 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,479 Speaker 1: saw as a sign of decaying values and young people, 104 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,720 Speaker 1: but Parks saw it differently. She said at the time, 105 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: I hope to some day see an end to the 106 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: conditions in our country that would make people want to 107 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: hurt others. M Today's episode was written by Melanie red 108 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: Zeke McManus and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is 109 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more on 110 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet 111 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: has Stuff Works dot com, and for more podcasts from 112 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 113 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.