1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Hey, history fans, here's a rerun for today, brought to 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: you by Tracy V. Wilson. We hope it makes previous 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: episodes for this date easier to find in the feed. 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to this Day in History Class from how Stuff 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: Works dot com and from the desk of Stuff you 6 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore 7 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,119 Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome 9 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's December one. 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a 11 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on 12 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: this day in nineteen fifty. There are a lot of 13 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: misconceptions about this. What is that Rosa Park was just 14 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: really tired from a long day of work and she 15 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: just wanted to get home, and this was sort of 16 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: something that caught her up in the civil rights movement. 17 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: But Rosa Parks had been an activist for many years 18 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: before that day on the bus. She had joined the 19 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: Double A CPE. She went to leadership conferences and annual meetings, 20 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: she chaired committees, She gave addresses at these meetings and conferences. 21 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: She documented crimes and discrimination against Black Americans, and she 22 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: investigated the sexual assaults and rapes of black women. Another 23 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: big misconception is that she was the first person to 24 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger 25 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: on a segregated bus in Montgomery, and that's not true either. 26 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: A lot of people had done the same in the 27 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,759 Speaker 1: years leading up to this, including a young woman named 28 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: Claudette Colvin. This wasn't even the first time that Rosa 29 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: Parks had refused to give up her seat. She had 30 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,320 Speaker 1: been removed by the same driver who was at the 31 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: wheel that day in ninety five. He had removed her 32 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: from a bus previously. She had said she was never 33 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: going to ride one of his buses again, and that 34 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: she would not have gotten on the bus that day 35 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: if she had realized that he was the one at 36 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: the wheel when this happened. Though, the n double a 37 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: c p. Had been on the lookout for a test 38 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: case that they could take to the courts to try 39 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: to overturn segregation laws. To do that, they needed a 40 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: good plaintiff, somebody who would seem respectable and sympathetic to 41 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: a white judge and the white media, and that's how 42 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: Rosa Parks became sort of the face of this in 43 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: a lot of ways. She's the person most famously associated 44 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: with the bus boycott. She was certainly fierce, but she 45 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: also had a soft spoken demeanor. She was married, she 46 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: had a job, she went to church, She had no 47 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:36,279 Speaker 1: criminal record. This was all part of a legal strategy 48 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,680 Speaker 1: to try to do everything possible to take a winnable 49 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: case to the courts. The Montgomery bus boycott began as 50 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: parks case went to trial. About nine of black riders 51 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: boycotted the bus, and the boycott's leaders went to the 52 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: city with very clear demands. They wanted courteous treatment on 53 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: all the buses. They wanted first come, first served, seating 54 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: whites in the front and blacks in the back, so 55 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: no more giving up your seat to white passengers. They 56 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: also wanted black drivers to be hired for the primarily 57 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: black bus routes. This boycott went on for more than 58 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: a year, during which time Parks and other leaders of 59 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: it did extensive organizing and campaigning, and this was all 60 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: at great risk to their own lives. The houses of 61 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: multiple people who were involved in the boycott were bombed, 62 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: including the house of Martin Luther King Jr. Ultimately, the 63 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, 64 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: which ultimately issued a written order that the buses be integrated. 65 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: This was one of the major moments in the civil 66 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: rights movement in the United States. Rosa Parks that her husband, 67 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: though faced extensive harassment and discrimination and threats all during 68 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: and after the boycott. They later moved away to Detroit 69 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: with the hope of starting over without all of this harassment. 70 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: But even in Detroit they had trouble getting work because 71 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: of their association with the boycott in the civil rights movement. 72 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: It took Rosa Parks about five years to find steady 73 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: paying work. Afterward, she eventually got a job in the 74 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: office of Representative John Conyers Jr. And she continued working 75 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: there until she retired. She died on October two thousand five. 76 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 1: You can learn more about her and about the bus 77 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 1: boycott in the February three episodes of Stuffymiss in History Class. 78 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: Thanks to Ksey P. Grimm and Chandler Maze for their 79 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: audio work on this show. You can subscribe to the 80 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,600 Speaker 1: Stay in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, the 81 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: I Heart radio app, and wherever you get your podcasts, 82 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for an influential doctrine