1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. They we 4 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: are going to talk about someone who Anyone who has 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: ever heard anything about the civil rights movement in the 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: United States, it's probably heard one thing about. Yes, this 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: is kind of one of those quick encapsulation people can 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: spit out the name and sort of what it's associated with. Yes, 9 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: Rosa Parks. Now you go, Montgomery bus boycott. Right, She 10 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: refused to give up her seat one day on the bus, 11 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: and that spawned the Montgomery Bus boycott, which in turn 12 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: spawned the creation of the Montgomery Montgomery Improvement Association, of 13 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: which Martin Luther King Jr. Was elected as its first president. 14 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: So this is sort of a keystone moment in the 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: American civil rights movement. Consequently, Rosa is known as the 16 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: mother of the Civil rights movement. Um But as with 17 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: many of the most memorable historical stories, this sort of 18 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: elementary school version that a lot of people know about 19 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: how one day Rosa didn't give up her seat on 20 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: a segregated bus and then the boycatt happened like it's 21 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: that's a really simplified version. It's extremely oversimplified, and it uh, 22 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,320 Speaker 1: it misses a lot of the work that she did 23 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,479 Speaker 1: in her life. UM. Yeah, she was way more than 24 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 1: that one incident. She was basically amazing, uh and extremely 25 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: I mean that one act of civil disobedience was a 26 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: monumental act that was deeply important, but it was a tiny, 27 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: tiny piece of this whole big story. So this that's 28 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: why this episode blossomed into two parts. So, UM, today 29 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about Rosa Park's early life. We're 30 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: going to go up to the actual day on the bus, 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: and then in part two we will talk about the 32 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: boycott and how that unfolded and had happened afterward, and 33 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: what her life was like after the boycott was over. 34 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: And we're going to start with a little bit of 35 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: background that we have learned is necessary, UM, and other 36 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: times that we've talked about the civil rights movement in America. 37 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: Basically when we've done episodes that have touched on the 38 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: civil rights movement, we've gotten, um, quite a few messenger 39 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: messages from listeners outside the United States who felt like 40 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: they didn't have enough context to really understand what we 41 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: were talking about um and like didn't really have a 42 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: sense of what segregation was all about and all of 43 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And in the United States, as 44 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: we just referenced, schools have a pretty sanitized and oversimplified 45 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: view of the movement and of the social conditions at 46 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: the time. So in light of all that, we're gonna 47 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: have a very very brief recap of this. So, slavery 48 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: was abolished in the United States in the early eighteen sixties. However, 49 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,359 Speaker 1: a number of laws and social systems continued to really 50 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: deliberately subjugate African Americans even though slavery was technically over 51 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: am Using the air quotes all over the place here, 52 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: a racism, discrimination, and unequal treatment are still things that 53 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: you will find today. They still exist, and some of 54 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: the other things we're about to talk about also continue 55 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: to happen. But the first one hundred years that followed 56 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War, a lot of this 57 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: really unfair treatment was completely legal. It was in fact 58 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: encouraged in many cases, and it was pretty much a 59 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: constant in terms of the social picture. Yes, so the 60 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: laws included, among many others, things like polling an election, 61 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: laws that were explicitly meant to keep African Americans from voting. 62 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: And they're also segregation laws known as Jim Crow laws, 63 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: which separated white people from people of color and everything 64 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: from schools to buses to restrooms. So the Supreme Court 65 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: had upheld the constitutionality of segregation in eight as long 66 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:57,119 Speaker 1: as these separate facilities were also equal. So in reality, 67 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: the facilities that were marked colored were early inferior than 68 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: the ones for white people, and as we talked about 69 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: in our episode on Loving versus Virginia last year, that 70 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: was actually a two parter. Regardless of their quality, the 71 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 1: fact that these separate facilities even existed was inherently a 72 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: form of discrimination, and the social part of this equation 73 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: really wove its way through every facet of life. So 74 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: we have just a couple of examples. There were businesses 75 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: that would hire only African Americans for service positions, which 76 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: sort of maintained this atmosphere and a certainly a visual 77 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: sense of slavery. Black people were held too vastly different 78 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: behavioral standards and white people, especially when speaking to Caucasians, 79 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 1: African Americans were expected always to be subservient and meek 80 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: and never talk back or stand up for themselves, and 81 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: those who broke these social rules really risked some horrible consequences. 82 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: They could be beaten. Uh, they would certainly invite scorn 83 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: and derision and sometimes death, and sometimes it would get very, 84 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: very violent. And as Tracy said end in their ending, yes, 85 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: violence specifically by Caucasians against African Americans was also just 86 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: frequent and severe, and often authorities just chose not to 87 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: investigate or prosecute what was going on. But on the 88 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: other hand, African Americans are frequently arrested, tried, and convicted 89 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: for crimes they absolutely did not commit at all, and 90 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: sometimes which had not even happened. And there were times 91 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: when there was not even an arrest or conviction. Uh, 92 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: they didn't bother with the paperwork or the legalities. There 93 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: would simply be a mob that took the law into 94 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: its own hands and lynched someone for a crime which 95 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: may or may not have happened, may have been entirely 96 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: made up. And you told me about how postcards of 97 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: such things were sold in stores until the sixties. Yeah, 98 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: I um, I had a boss at one of my 99 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: previous jobs in the library who had happened upon them 100 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: at one point. I think in a book collection that 101 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: we had acquired, and they're they're literally postcards of lynchings. 102 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:12,039 Speaker 1: They were horrifying, and he kind of kept them in 103 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: his desk and when students it was in the university library, 104 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: would be talking about it, and any time they were like, 105 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: it really wasn't that bad, was it, he was always 106 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: ready to pull those out and go, oh, it's really 107 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: that bad, horrifying. Yes. So this was the most obvious 108 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: and notorious in the American South, especially in the states 109 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: that had still allowed slavery at the start of the 110 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: Civil War. But explicit racism and discrimination were really systemic, 111 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: and they existed all over the country. It was not 112 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: just quote a Southern problem. The Ku Klux Klan and 113 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: other white supremacy organizations flourished throughout the country. So for 114 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: total clarity, ending segregation was an important part of the 115 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: civil rights movement. But the civil rights movement was not 116 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: just about who who sat in what seat on the bus, 117 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: And for Rosa Parks, it wasn't just about not giving 118 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: up her seat that one day. It was also a 119 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: much bigger picture. It was a lifelong part of her 120 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: and that's we're going to start with the early part 121 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: of her life. Now. Rosa Parks was born Rosa mcaulay 122 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: and she grew up in Alabama, And in her autobiography 123 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: she describes herself as having a sense of fairness from 124 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: a very young age. And she also had, in her 125 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: own words quote a life history of being rebellious. And 126 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: during her childhood she had several encounters in which she 127 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: was threatened by a white person and actually stood up 128 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: for herself in spite of all of the social expectations 129 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: that she would do exactly not that. In one a 130 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: white boy threatened to punch her, and she picked up 131 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: a brick and threatened to hit him back, which is 132 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: startling well, especially considered that she's portrayed as sort of 133 00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: this diminutive sweet lady. Yes, she always is characterized as 134 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: being just this very gentle, kind, wonderful person, but which 135 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: is also true, there was a spitfire in there that 136 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: was not going to stand for unfair treatment. Uh. And 137 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: in another instance, that white boy accused her and one 138 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,679 Speaker 1: of her friends of taking berries from the bushes outside 139 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: his house, and she and her friends said, if you 140 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 1: come over here, we'll give you a good beating, which 141 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: is very brave. Yes, And there were many similar incidents 142 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: throughout her childhood as well. So in all of these cases, 143 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: when Rosa told an adult what had happened, she would 144 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: be scolded for speaking that way to a white person. 145 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: The adults in her life told her quite directly that 146 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: she should never ever defend herself or he's even raise 147 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,559 Speaker 1: her voice against a white person. Because of the very 148 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: real risks that were involved in the case of the berries, 149 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: her aunt told her that if the white boy told 150 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: anybody else about it, they could be lynched. And Rosa 151 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: simply did not agree with this, And as she grew 152 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: up uh and got married, neither did her husband, Raymond Parks, 153 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: who she met in the spring of nine one. They 154 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,439 Speaker 1: were married in December of nine and everyone referred to 155 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: him as just Parks uh. And so for that reason, 156 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:11,960 Speaker 1: as we go forward telling the story, we will call 157 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 1: him Parks and Rosa will go by the name of Rosa. 158 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:17,719 Speaker 1: I have this whole conversation with myself every time we 159 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:20,319 Speaker 1: talk about a person about how to name that person 160 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: in the episode, and so that's why we have Parks 161 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: with Parks and Rosa Rosa. So Parks was an activist. 162 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: When he met Rosa, he was working extensively on behalf 163 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: of a group of people known as the Scottsboro Boys. 164 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: These were nine black teenagers who had been falsely accused 165 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: of the gang rape of two white women. This was 166 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: an incident which had not even happened, and they had 167 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: been sentenced to death. So this work was extremely dangerous 168 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: because of the threat of retaliation and violence from the 169 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: white community. So all of the meetings took place completely 170 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: in secret, and Parks wouldn't even tell Rosa the names 171 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,319 Speaker 1: of the other men who were working with him because 172 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 1: of the danger her that was involved for all of them. 173 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:06,719 Speaker 1: So for many many years before Rosa became an activist, 174 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: she had been observing Parks's own political work UH, and 175 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: he had not wanted her to be involved because his 176 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: own involvement was so incredibly dangerous. And this was not 177 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: This was not like an exaggerated threat dangerous like activists, 178 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: houses were bombed frequently. So in Ninette, Rosa joined the 179 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the 180 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: n double a CP, and this was an organization that 181 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: started out UM to make sure that African Americans were 182 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: getting the protections that were granted to them by the UH. 183 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: The amendments to the Constitution that had followed the Civil War. 184 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: So Parks had been a member when they had met, 185 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: but eventually he had become kind of disillusioned with the 186 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: Montgomery Chapter. At the time, it tended to exclude blue 187 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,239 Speaker 1: collar members, and the most powerful African Americans in Montgomery 188 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: were kind of reluctant to make waves because a lot 189 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: of them had gotten to where they were by getting 190 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: favors from the white community, so they sort of felt 191 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: like trying to to go against that community would be 192 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:10,839 Speaker 1: biting the hand that fed them, right, they didn't want 193 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: to risk their own situation. But after seeing a picture 194 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: of a former schoolmate at an n double a CP 195 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,360 Speaker 1: meeting one day and realizing that they weren't for men only, 196 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: Rosa decided to attend a meeting herself, and she wound 197 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: up being the only woman at the meeting that night, 198 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: and she was actually asked to take notes like you're 199 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: a lady, why don't you do secretary things? That that 200 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:34,559 Speaker 1: is a theme of her adult life actually, and this 201 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 1: was also election day, so she actually was elected the 202 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: group secretary. So she described herself as being too timid 203 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 1: to say no that night that if she had been 204 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: a little braver. She might have said that, you know, 205 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: she declined the nomination, but this sort of sparked a 206 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: change in in her. She wound up working extensively with 207 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: the N Double A CP for many many years. She 208 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: dedicated herself to grass roets organization and progress for African Americans. 209 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: She attended leadership conferences and annual meetings, She chaired committees, 210 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,680 Speaker 1: she gave addresses at conferences, and she worked with other 211 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: social movement organizations and other organizations that were working towards 212 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 1: some specific civil rights and as well, um including the 213 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Reporters, among others. And one of 214 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 1: Rose's duties as secretary of the N Double A CP 215 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: was to document crimes and discrimination against African Americans. She 216 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: traveled to record the testimonies of black people who had 217 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: been the victims of crimes on the part of white people, 218 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 1: including beatings and gang rapes, and she also talked to 219 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: the families of people who had been lynched. I can't 220 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: imagine how difficult that had to have been at times. Uh. 221 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,079 Speaker 1: She also looked for new homes and work in Montgomery 222 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,679 Speaker 1: when victims were facing retaliation in their own communities. In 223 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 1: the instances where they spoke up, and she advocated for 224 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: African Americans who were wrongfully imprisoned, as well as course 225 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: bonding with them and offering aid and comfort when she could. 226 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,839 Speaker 1: Along with Parks, she worked extensively on getting African Americans 227 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 1: registered to vote. So today, in most places in the 228 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 1: United States, you can register to vote by sending in 229 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: a postcard or sometimes they have people like outside of 230 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,839 Speaker 1: stores or in other public areas. This is not how 231 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 1: it was, No, it took some effort. Yes, So around 232 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:31,559 Speaker 1: this time, there were several thousand African Americans living in Montgomery, Alabama, 233 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: but only about thirty were registered to vote. And this 234 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: is because for African Americans in this part of the 235 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:42,319 Speaker 1: United States, registration was a huge tangle of bureaucracy and discrimination. 236 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 1: Applications required people to identify their employers and their backgrounds. 237 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: There were tests and poll taxes that were more difficult 238 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: and more expensive for black people and African Americans uh 239 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 1: in Montgomery had to have a white person to vouch 240 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: for them to be able to do it at all. 241 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 1: And Rosa tried multiple times over the course of two 242 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: years to register and she was actually denied every time. 243 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: And this continued until one attempt in which she wrote 244 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: down all the questions on her registration exam so she 245 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: could file suit against the registration board. When the registrar 246 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: caught onto what she was doing, she was finally told 247 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: that she had passed the test and then she was 248 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: allowed to register. So in that instance, making waves kind 249 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: of helped a little bit. Yeah, Parks actually tried to 250 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: register for many, many years and he was told no, 251 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: over and over and over. Um he did not. He 252 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: was not registered to vote until they actually left Montgomery 253 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: way farther down the road in this story. Um Rosa 254 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: resigned her position as in double a CP secretary in 255 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: because her mother was ill, and although she scaled her 256 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: work back with them at the time, she did continue 257 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: to be active, and she returned to the post in 258 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty two when the Supreme Court verdict of Brown 259 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: versus Board of Education overturned school segregation. In nineteen fifty four, 260 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:10,400 Speaker 1: she also worked on the integration of schools. Before we 261 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: get to this next piece of her life, do you 262 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: want to pause for a moment, share word from our sponsor. 263 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: Let's do that already already. Are you ready to talk 264 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: about buses? Yes? So, Rosa's famous refusal to give up 265 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,840 Speaker 1: her bus seat took place in nineteen but this was 266 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: not the first time she had been removed from a 267 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: Montgomery bus were breaking segregation rules. The first one was 268 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: actually on her second attempt to register to vote. Black 269 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: people were supposed to board the bus at the front, 270 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 1: pay their fare, and exit the bus and then walk 271 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: to the back door of the bus to get on, 272 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: so that they would not walk through the white people 273 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: section at the front. Just incredibly degrading. It's sort of ridiculous. Yes, 274 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: So on that day, the back of the bus was 275 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: just packed with people. Voter registration hours were just very limited, 276 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: and they were extremely sporadic, and this was a deliberate 277 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: attempt to discourage black people from registering. So as soon 278 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: as a voter registration day would be announced, word would 279 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: spread through the community and the buses would fill up 280 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: with people who were going to try to register. So, 281 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: rather than try to push her way through this crowd 282 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: of people trying to register to vote, Rosa paid her 283 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: fare and she walked straight back and the driver demanded 284 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: that she get off and enter her section of the 285 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: bus through the back door, and she refused, and the 286 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: driver actually grabbed her sleeve to pull her off of 287 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: the bus. And I love the thing that she did 288 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: next so much, which is that when she got to 289 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: the front of the bus, she dropped her purse and 290 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: instead of bending it down to just pick it up, 291 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: she sat on the front seat and then reached down 292 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: and got it off the floor and then left the bus. 293 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: It's kind of awesome. I love her. Uh. Twelve years 294 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: later she was removed from another Montgomery bus and the 295 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: act of civil disobedience that people know about because in 296 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: many ways catalyzed this of the rights movement. So by 297 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: this point the n double a CP had been looking 298 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: for a test case for getting bus segregation overturned for 299 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: several years. Bus segregation was particularly demoralizing and degrading. Even 300 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 1: though lots and lots of places were segregated, the buses, 301 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:21,679 Speaker 1: in particular, they were extra upsetting. More African Americans than 302 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: Caucasians rode the bus, so the black community made up 303 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,159 Speaker 1: the majority of the customers and everyone was paying the 304 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,320 Speaker 1: same fare, but African Americans were treated very badly and 305 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:33,639 Speaker 1: they were often forced to give up their seats for 306 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,199 Speaker 1: white passengers. Over the years, many people had been arrested 307 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: for violating segregation laws on Montgomery's buses, but for various reasons, 308 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: none of them had worked out to be a good 309 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: plaintiff in a test case. One in particular, named Claudette Colvin, 310 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 1: had been considered until it was discovered that she was pregnant, 311 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,719 Speaker 1: which was problematic because she was an unmarried teenager. So 312 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: Rosan knew all this. She was working with the Double 313 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,439 Speaker 1: A c P at the time, but she wasn't trying 314 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: to get herself arrested when she got on the bus 315 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,359 Speaker 1: that day. In fact, it was being driven by the 316 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,959 Speaker 1: same man who had taken her off the bus twelve 317 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,919 Speaker 1: years earlier, and she had at that point decided to 318 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: never ever get on one of his busses again. She 319 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 1: didn't notice that he was the one behind the wheel 320 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: when she was on her way home from work on 321 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: December one, and once she made that connection, she had 322 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 1: already paid her fare, so she stayed on board. At 323 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: the next stop, white passengers boarded the bus and they 324 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: filled the last of the seats in the white only 325 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: section up front, and the driver called back for people 326 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: sitting in roses row to give up their seats. If 327 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: one white person was in a road then there could 328 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:43,360 Speaker 1: be no black people in it, even if there were 329 00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:47,600 Speaker 1: empty seats, right, so it wasn't It wasn't enough for 330 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,600 Speaker 1: just the seat to be empty. It had to be 331 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: the whole row. So at first nobody moved, But then 332 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: the three other people who were sitting in Roses row 333 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: stood up and went to stand at the back. Rosa 334 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: stayed where she was, and she kind of moved her 335 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: legs to let the man who was in the window 336 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: seat get past her, she wrote in her autobiography. People 337 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:10,920 Speaker 1: always say that I didn't give up my seat because 338 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: I was tired, But that isn't true. I was not 339 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 1: tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was 340 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,399 Speaker 1: at the end of a working day. I was not old, 341 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: although some people have an image of me as being 342 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: old then I was forty two. No, the only tired 343 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 1: I was was tired of giving in. And when the 344 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 1: driver saw that Rosa was still sitting there, he said 345 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: he was going to have her arrested, and she answered, 346 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: you may do that, I love her, I really do. Uh. 347 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,680 Speaker 1: She was taken into custody by two policemen and driven 348 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: to city Hall, where she was jailed, and she was 349 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 1: eventually allowed to make a phone call, and she called 350 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: home to ask Parks to come bailor out. She really 351 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: thought that it was going to take a long time 352 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: because Parks did not have a car. He was gonna 353 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,160 Speaker 1: have to, you know, either take a bus or ride 354 00:19:57,200 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: along or walk a long way to get there. But 355 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: word had already spread that she had been arrested, and 356 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: a friend who had heard about it went to the 357 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: Parks home to give him a ride. Edie Nixon was 358 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: someone that Rosa and Parks had worked with for many years. 359 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: At the end of a c P and he got 360 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: in touch with a lawyer named Clifford dr and helped 361 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: get Rosa out of jail and the trial was set 362 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: for the following Monday. At this point Edie Nixon, who 363 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 1: he did a lot in Montgomery with a civil rights movement, 364 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: He asked Rosa whether she would be willing to be 365 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:30,320 Speaker 1: the play defend a test case to try to overturn 366 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: bus segregation. He really thought she would be an ideal candidate. 367 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 1: He had known her for years. He considered her reputation 368 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: and her demeanor to be impeccable. She was a devout 369 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: Christian and a member of an African Methodist Episcopal Church. 370 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: She was also married, and she had a job, and 371 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,359 Speaker 1: there were no skeletons in her closet, that we're going 372 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,399 Speaker 1: to come out during a trial and and throw everything 373 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: off the rails. And so after talking it over with 374 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: Parks and with her mother, Rosa agreed and that I 375 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: swear going to pause the end of part one. Uh, 376 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 1: I think I will read some listener mail before we 377 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,680 Speaker 1: sign off for this episode. It sounds like a capital idea. 378 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: This one is from our listener, Amelia, and it is 379 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,880 Speaker 1: actually in reference to our Mendez Versus Westminster episode, which 380 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: was about the segregation of Mexican American children in southern 381 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: California schools. Uh So it's it fits a little with 382 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: what we're talking about today, so Amelia says, Hi, Tracy 383 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: and Holly. I just listened to the Mendez Versus Westminster 384 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: podcast and was reminded of one of my favorite undergraduate 385 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: history classes, African American History eighteen sixty five to present, 386 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: which covered many many topics related to segregation, desegregation, and 387 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: legalized discrimination. It was the first class I took that 388 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: required me to memorize Supreme Court cases. I was an 389 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: art major before embracing history and getting a master's in it. 390 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: At any rate, This podcast reminded me of one of 391 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: the cases we had to memorize Lum versus Rice seven, 392 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: which clearly influenced Mendez versus Westminster, and not in a 393 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: good way. A Chinese American father sued to have his 394 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: daughter attend the local white school in Mississippi by the 395 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:10,679 Speaker 1: logic that since they weren't black, she shouldn't have to 396 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: attend the black school, which was poorly funded. Unfortunately for 397 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: the Lump family, they lost with the court saying that 398 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: since Martha Lum was not white, she couldn't attend the 399 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:23,119 Speaker 1: white school. I've always been curious about the background of 400 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: the case in the family. She has in parentheses. How 401 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: does the Chinese American family end up in Mississippi in 402 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,879 Speaker 1: the nineties and what became of them? Perhaps a suggestion 403 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: for a future podcast. Keep up the good work. And 404 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: then she says that she listens to our podcast while 405 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: rehabbing our home, and we've distracted her from the crummy 406 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: jobs like pulling carpet staples from the wood floors and 407 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: fixing window stashes. I hate pulling carpet staples, and that's 408 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: the windows stashes, when I should have said sashes Um, 409 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: thank you so much, Amelia. There were so many cases 410 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: that were precursors to Mendez versus Westminster that I kept 411 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: having to like trim some of them out and the 412 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: actively figure out which ones to talk about because there 413 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:08,159 Speaker 1: were lots. Yeah, I know that myself. I lose that 414 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: sense of how many of these types of incidents were 415 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 1: going on leading up to desegregation, That there were lots 416 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: of these little pockets of individuals that were trying to 417 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: figure out the best way to you know, raise their 418 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:23,640 Speaker 1: family and live their lives, and they kind of get 419 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: lost in the bigger picture kind of quick version that 420 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,400 Speaker 1: you often get. Yeah. Well, and that's a good segue 421 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: to where we're gonna leave off for our next episode 422 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,679 Speaker 1: because one of the uh, one of the things before 423 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement was that there were a lot 424 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:44,359 Speaker 1: of people who were working on civil rights issues, most 425 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: of them before the Montgomery bus boycott, did not think 426 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: they were going to see a whole lot of action 427 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: on it in their lifetimes. Um. So we will talk 428 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: more about that in our next episode. If you would 429 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,160 Speaker 1: like to write to us on this or anything else. 430 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: We were a history podcast apiscope dot Com We're also 431 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,639 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash miss in history 432 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: and on Twitter at miss in history. Our tumblers miss 433 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,359 Speaker 1: in history dot tumbler dot com, and our pinterest is 434 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: pinterest dot com slash miss in history. If you would 435 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: like to learn more about this, you can come to 436 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: our website and put the words Rosa Parks into our 437 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: search bar and you will find our article on how 438 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement work. You can do all that 439 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: and a whole lot more at our website, which is 440 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot com for more on this and 441 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Because it has to works dot 442 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: com