1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 1: I'm Trac Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. They were going 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: to pick up where our previous episode left off. We're 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: talking about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. So 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: previously we talked about sort of the historical context of 7 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: what was going on in the United States prior to 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement leading up until the day that 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,159 Speaker 1: Rosa Parks famously refused to leave her seat on a 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,959 Speaker 1: Montgomery bus. She was arrested and um she was going 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: to be tried for breaking Montgomery's bus segregation laws on Monday, 12 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: December That was just immediately following the weekend of when 13 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: she had been arrested. So the Women's Political Council called 14 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: for a boycott of the buses on that day as 15 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: a protest. They pretty much started make king and distributing 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: handbills announcing the boycott right at the same time as 17 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: Rosa was arrested, and the handbill read another Negro woman 18 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: has been arrested and thrown into jail because she refused 19 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:13,199 Speaker 1: to get up out of her seat on the bus 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: and give it to a white person. This is the 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: second time since the cloud at Colvin case that a 22 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing. This 23 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: has to be stopped. Negroes have rights to for if 24 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: Negroes did not ride the buses, they could not operate. 25 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: Three fourths of the riders are Negroes. Yet we are 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: arrested or have to stand over empty seats. If we 27 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,960 Speaker 1: do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. 28 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: The next time. It may be you, or your daughter 29 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: or mother. This woman's case will come up Monday. We 30 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: are therefore asking every Negro to stay off the buses 31 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: Monday in protest of the arrested trial. Don't ride the 32 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere on Monday. 33 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: You can afford to stay out of school for one 34 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: day if you work, take a cab or walk. But please, 35 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: children and grown ups, don't ride the bus at all 36 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: on Monday. Please stay off all buses Monday. So, in 37 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: addition to these handbills which were distributed, there was a 38 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: lot of word of mouth talk about the boycott and 39 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,679 Speaker 1: ministers spoke to their congregations encouraging the boycott. In church 40 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: on Sunday and so on Monday, support for the boycott 41 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: was huge. About of black bus riders boycott. That is 42 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: a massively significant number when you consider that they were 43 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: three quarters of the riders. People walked the car pool, 44 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: they took cabs. Cab companies owned by African Americans actually 45 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: charged passengers the same fair they would have paid for 46 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: the bus, like ten cents. Uh. There are stories of 47 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:44,079 Speaker 1: people walking literally twenty miles that day rather than ride 48 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: the bus. So At the trial, Rosa's lawyers entered a 49 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: not guilty plea, but they didn't really put forth an 50 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: enormous defense against the charges. The whole point was that 51 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: a guilty verdict could be appealed. So Roso was found 52 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: guilty and she was fined ten dollars plus four dollars 53 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: in court costs. That same day, a coalition of ministers 54 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: and community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association and elected 55 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King, Jr. Its president. Its mission was to 56 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,519 Speaker 1: advance the general status of Montgomery, to improve race relations, 57 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: and to uplift the general tenor of the community. So 58 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: that night, the Montgomery Improvement Association, also called the m 59 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: i A, held a community meeting in order to decide 60 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,920 Speaker 1: whether to continue the boycott. Obviously, it had been a 61 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: big show of support, but the question was if we 62 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: keep doing this, can we get actual change to happen. 63 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: Doctor King spoke and afterwards Rosa was introduced to the crowd. 64 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: She didn't actually speak. They were uh. She was like, 65 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: should I say something? And the verdict was like, you 66 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: have said a lot by your actions, so it's fine. Um. 67 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: In the end, the m i A made three demands 68 00:03:55,920 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: to present to the city's leadership. One courteous treat went 69 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: on the buses. The second was first come first surf 70 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: seating with whites in the front and blacks in the back. 71 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: And three hiring of black drivers for the black bus routes. 72 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: This sounds like an exceptionally reasonable set of demands, but 73 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: the city refused uh And from this point the m 74 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: i A started organizing ways to keep the bus boycott going. 75 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: Most African Americans did not own cars, so a long 76 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 1: term boycott was really going to require some support. UH. 77 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: They also started working with attorneys to present demands to 78 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: try to negotiate with city leaders and the bus company. 79 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,799 Speaker 1: So as the boycott stretched on, Rosa wound up losing 80 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: her job. Her employer, which was the Montgomery Fair Department store, 81 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: said that it no longer needed her work as a 82 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: seamstress because it no longer had a tailor. So the 83 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: tailor would fit garments to people, and then she would 84 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: so based on what the tailor had done. So without 85 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: a job, she focused extensively on the boycott. She became 86 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: the dispatcher for a network of privately owned cars that 87 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: carried about thirty black people to and from work every day. 88 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,479 Speaker 1: She also continued to work and support the boycott throughout 89 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 1: its entire thirteen months duration. She spoke, she worked, and 90 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: she organized. Her involvement did not end with not giving 91 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: up her seat. Life, as you can imagine, became harder 92 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: for people who chose not to ride the bus. As 93 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: the boycott went on, people lost their jobs because they 94 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: supported this effort, and police harassed black people that were 95 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: waiting for cabs. Cab drivers were also fined for carrying 96 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: black passengers with they charged a reduced fare. Yeah, there 97 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: was a pretty concerted effort to attempt to break the boycott. 98 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: There was also some targeting of white women who were 99 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,720 Speaker 1: driving their maids to and from work. A lot of 100 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: like we need to figure out how to get the 101 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 1: white ladies to stop doing this because they're really hurting 102 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: our cause. It's all kind of yeah, it was orchestrated 103 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,479 Speaker 1: of Actually, a white attorney dug up an old law 104 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: that prohibited boycotts, and a grand jury indicted many private 105 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: citizens and community leaders who had been boycotting, including Dr King, 106 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: the leaders of the m i A, more than twenty ministers, 107 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: and Rosa Parks. And as a side note, the famous 108 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: picture of Rosa Parks being fingerprinted is in fact not 109 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: from her initial arrest after being removed from the bus. 110 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: It's from her arrest after this indictment. That's you see 111 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:31,919 Speaker 1: it a lot of times with like completely not the 112 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: right caption. Things really started to become violent. Also, the 113 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: homes of Dr Martin, Luther King Jr. And Edie Nixon 114 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: were bombed. Rosa also got threatening phone calls at her home. 115 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: It became an increasingly dangerous situation for the people who 116 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 1: were boycotting and supporting the boycott, and from the city's 117 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: point of view, this boycott was having a very clear 118 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: economic impact. The buses simply couldn't afford to run without 119 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: the fairs from black ride ers and downtown businesses were 120 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: really suffering from the absence of customers who had previously 121 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: gotten there to shop via bus, but the city would 122 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: not budge on the segregation policies even though it was 123 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: harming them. So the case that gradually made its way 124 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: to the United States Supreme Court was called Browder versus Gail. 125 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: Browder was Aurelia S. Browder, who was one of the 126 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: women who had been mistreated on a Montgomery bus. Gail 127 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: was Mayor William A. Gail and then also part of 128 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: the case where other plaintiffs and defendants says, as as 129 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: is often true, there were other women who had been 130 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: arrested for breaking segregation laws. On the plaintiff side and 131 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: on the defendant side were also the chief of police, 132 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: the bus company drivers, and other people. Rosa herself was 133 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: not actually one of the plaintiffs of the Supreme Court 134 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: because at this point she was also being prosecuted on 135 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: these other charges, and the attorneys did not want that 136 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: to influence the proceedings. A U. S. District Court panel 137 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: found in favor of the plaintiff on June five, nineteen 138 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: fifty six. The city commissioners appealed in the U. S. 139 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: Supreme Court upheld the District Court's decision. On November thirteenth 140 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty six, city and state officials asked the 141 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: Supreme Court to reconsider. The Supreme Court rejected this plea 142 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: on December seventeenth of n On December twenty a written 143 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: order from the Supreme Court arrived in Montgomery requiring the 144 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: buses to integrate, so that the boycott ended. Then it 145 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: had taken more than thirteen months, so more than a 146 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: year of people not riding the bus. Many of the 147 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: boycott's leaders rode together on the first integrated bus. Rosa 148 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: herself didn't because her mother wasn't feeling well and she 149 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: wanted to stay home with her, But some reporters figured 150 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: out where she lived, showed up and wanted a photo 151 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,680 Speaker 1: op and drove her into town to get on and 152 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: off buses so they could take pictures. So that is 153 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: the source of the equally famous pictures of Rosa Parks 154 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: riding on an integrated bus for the first time, staged 155 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: on behalf of journalist journalists. Uh As was the case 156 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: with school integration. Following Brown versus Board of Vegetation, there 157 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: was heavy resistance to integrating the buses. There were shots 158 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: fired at integrated buses, and there were church bombings that 159 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: followed in its wake, so there was still an atmosphere 160 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: of very real danger. Yes, and Rosa herself said that 161 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: even though the buses had been integrated and they got 162 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: what they were after, it didn't really feel like a 163 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: victory because she knew just how much work there was 164 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: still left to do. And before we talk about some 165 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: more of that work that went on, let's take a 166 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: moment and talk about a word from our sponsor, and 167 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: now we'll get back to the events that unfolded following 168 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: the Montgomery bus boycott. Yeah, so the boycott became one 169 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: of the keystones in the American civil rights movement. It's certainly, uh, 170 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: something we hear about all the time. Like we said 171 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: in the beginning of the first episode of this topic, 172 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,079 Speaker 1: it's kind of like, uh, the quick sound bite that 173 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: you get rose a Park's Montgomery bus boycott. It was 174 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: widely covered in the national media, and it brought more 175 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,839 Speaker 1: attention to the struggle for equal rights. It was also 176 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: a clear indication that it really was possible to change things. 177 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: As we referenced at the end of our previous episode, 178 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: before the bus boycott, a lot of civil rights activists 179 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: genuinely felt like their work was not going to produce 180 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 1: any kind of real change in their lifetimes. Even though 181 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: people were working really hard trying to organize at at 182 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: a grass roots level, trying to take legal steps to 183 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 1: to address laws that were unjust. It really seemed like 184 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:44,000 Speaker 1: an uphill battle that was going to take a really, 185 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: really long time to see any real change on the 186 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: success of the bus boycott inspired communities to organize and 187 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: to protest, and also sort of gave a template for 188 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: for how much work it would take and how much 189 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: organization and how many people uh to you have a 190 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: unified action on something. And this is also when Dr 191 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Jr. Started to really emerge as a 192 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: civil rights leader. Encouraging non violent protests and civil disobedience 193 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: is a way to encourage social change. So this movement 194 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: continued on for for many years. We we could have 195 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 1: like a whole series of podcasts that was about the 196 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: civil rights movement. There's an awesome book and TV series 197 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,439 Speaker 1: called Eyes on the Prize which documents it just astoundingly 198 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: um so many important and historic moments that that went 199 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,480 Speaker 1: on and culminated in a lot of federal legislation that 200 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: made a lot of what was going on illegal. So 201 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: while a lot of these things do still happen today, 202 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:46,560 Speaker 1: a lot of these things being things that are there 203 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: are obviously discriminatory or racist. They are not legal and 204 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: encouraged the way that they were before the civil rights 205 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: movement happened. Rosa's own autobiography, which is sort of men 206 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: for younger readers. It's called Rosa Parks My Story, doesn't 207 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 1: really say much about her life after the boycott. After 208 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: it ended, though, she and Parks couldn't find work because 209 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 1: of their involvement with the boycott and the movement. They 210 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: were also accused of being communists because of their civil 211 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,719 Speaker 1: rights work and their associations with some civil rights organizations 212 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: that did have some communist leanings, and they were harassed 213 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: a lot. Parks became increasingly worried about Rosa's safety, so 214 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: eight months after this whole event ended, they moved to Detroit, 215 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: where Rose's brother had also moved after World War Two, 216 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:39,839 Speaker 1: and even there they had some serious economic troubles because 217 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: people did not want to hire Rosa. She continued to 218 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:45,480 Speaker 1: go to meetings and work with civil rights organizations, but 219 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: those organizations would not offer her paying work. Yeah, they 220 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: were actually like national news stories. Yeah, she was a 221 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: little too high profile for people to take a risk 222 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:56,679 Speaker 1: on her. Yeah. And and and there were you know, 223 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,439 Speaker 1: there were new stories that covered this story that was 224 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,680 Speaker 1: like this civil rights hair when I cannot find a job. 225 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: Um for a while, she moved to Hampton, Virginia, where 226 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: she had found a job running the sort of combination 227 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: dorm slashed guest facility on the campus of Hampton Institute, 228 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: which was a black college. But she felt really lonely 229 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: and isolated there. She tried really hard to find work 230 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: for Parks so that he could come and be with her, 231 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: and wasn't able to. She eventually moved back to Detroit, 232 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: and it took about five years for her to find 233 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: steady paying work. And in Detroit she had Parks continued 234 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: to be harassed because of their activism, and even though 235 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: interviewers continued to ask her about the progress of civil 236 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,240 Speaker 1: rights in the South, she became acutely aware of how 237 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: many of the same problems still existed in the North. Yeah. 238 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:47,400 Speaker 1: While the South has often pointed to you as like 239 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: the hotbed of all of it, but it really was 240 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: all over the country. Yeah, a lot of like registering 241 00:13:52,840 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: to vote was just a crazily convoluted, deliberately demeaning process 242 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: for African Americans in the South, uh and and in 243 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: the in the North, there were also many steps that 244 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 1: were taken to deliberately disenfranchised African American people. It just 245 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: was not as obvious um some of the social things 246 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: that we talked about earlier in the in the introduction 247 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: to the previous episode, when we talked about sort of 248 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 1: the social context, and we talked about businesses that would 249 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: hire only African Americans for service positions. A lot of 250 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: that was like fancy hotels in the North who were 251 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: hoping to attract Southern business people, and they would maintain 252 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: this veneer of like a romanticized slavery version by having 253 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: an all black wait staff. It was not just a 254 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 1: Southern thing. In nineteen sixty four, a black candidate named 255 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: John Conyers Junior ran for a seat in the House 256 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: of Representatives, and Rosa had been following his campaign. He 257 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: had been before he got into politics, a civil rights lawyer. 258 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: Rosa endorsed his candidacy and he was eventually elected, and 259 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty five he hired her for a position 260 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: in his Detroit office, and she continued to work for 261 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,400 Speaker 1: him until she retired. This is a secretarial role, uh, 262 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: because she was a woman and this was the sixties. 263 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: That was basically the job or limited options, like the 264 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: job that a middle class woman could do was basically secretary. 265 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: But it definitely gave her the chance to continue with 266 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: her activism throughout Detroit and really the rest of the country. 267 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: She continued to travel and speak and work for equality 268 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: for the rest of her life. There are photographs of 269 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: her at anti apartheid rallies as she got into her 270 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: later years. This was really a lifelong activism for equal 271 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: rights for all people. It was really her purpose, I 272 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 1: mean her personal mission. Uh. And Rosa Parks died at 273 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: home on October two thousand five. Representative Conyers introduced a 274 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: resolution for her to lie in honor at the Capitol 275 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: Road TOUN in Washington, d C. She was the first 276 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: woman in the second African American to be given this honor. 277 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: And I love her. I think she's amazing. She is. 278 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: It's it's like the moment on the bus was an 279 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: amazing moment. But to reduce her to this moment like 280 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: other amazing there so much amazing stuff. Um. There's a 281 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: great book that I read, uh was I was researching 282 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: this podcast. It's by Jean Theo Harris, and it's called 283 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: The Rebellious Life of Ms. Rosa Parks. And it's this 284 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: like it's its whole annotated volume that's about all this 285 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: other work that she did for so long, um, and 286 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 1: that you know, even breaking this into two parts, there 287 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: are lots of things that we did not talk about 288 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: that she did and that she accomplished, and that she 289 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: represented on behalf of the civil rights movement and women 290 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: which in a lot of ways tended to be a 291 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: male dominated movement. While we finger aout on Rosa Parks, 292 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: do you also have some listener mail for us? I do, 293 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: and this is from Jessica and Jessica this is actually 294 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: I have like the file of stuff that I mean 295 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:13,640 Speaker 1: to read and then sometimes I miss something and it's 296 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: as later. So this is from like the wayback machine 297 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: of my inboxes from Jessica, he wrote to us at 298 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: the beginning of December. Um. She says, first of all, 299 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: I absolutely love the podcast. I listened on my daily 300 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: commute from Boston where I live, to Fall River where 301 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: I work. Yes, the same Fall River where Lizzie Borden 302 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: was acquitted of acting her parents to death. She has 303 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,719 Speaker 1: a little asterisk here and then down at the bottom 304 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: it says the general consensus among the people of Fall 305 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: River is that she definitely did it. Cracks me up. 306 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: I work in fall River as a public defender representing 307 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 1: low income individuals who have been charged with crimes. The 308 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:54,159 Speaker 1: house where Ms Borden's alleged murders took place is actually 309 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:57,360 Speaker 1: right behind our new courthouse. Spooky. It is a bed 310 00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: and breakfast. Now you can sleep in the very room 311 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: where Abbey Borden was hacked to death. If that's something 312 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: you're into, I don't know where I fall on that issue. 313 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,679 Speaker 1: I recently listened to the Boston Massacre podcast, which was awesome. 314 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: I'm really glad you took the time to talk about 315 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,679 Speaker 1: John Adams. His defense of the soldiers is something that 316 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,639 Speaker 1: I and other public defenders used to explain to others 317 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 1: why we do what we do. Everyone deserves to have 318 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: their rights protected, whether it's British soldiers or everyday people 319 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,200 Speaker 1: who can't afford representation. So the next time I'm in court, 320 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: I'll be thinking about John Adams and trying to forget 321 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: the fact that the spooky Lizzie Boardenhouse is right next 322 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: to me. Thanks for the great podcasts, Jessica. I kind 323 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:42,920 Speaker 1: of love that there's a spooky Lizzie Boardenhouse right next 324 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: to the courthouse. Me too behind it, I guess so. 325 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: I always forget that so much stuff in New England 326 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 1: is an easy commuting distance from so much other stuff 327 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: in New England. The fact that somebody commutes from Boston 328 00:18:57,119 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 1: to Fall River that kind of delights me. And the 329 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: fact that people are using the story of John Adams 330 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: and the Boston massacre to explain the role of public defenders. Yeah, 331 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:10,919 Speaker 1: I think that is awesome. If you would like to 332 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: write to us, we were at History Podcast at Discovery 333 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: dot com. We're also on Facebook at facebook dot com 334 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: slash miss in history and on Twitter at miss in History. 335 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: Are tumbler mist in history dot tumbler dot com, and 336 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: our pinterest is pinterest dot com slash miss and history. 337 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: If you would like to learn more about what we 338 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: talked about today, you can come to our website and 339 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: put the word civil rights into the search bar. You 340 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: will find a timeline of civil rights. You can do 341 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: all of that and a whole lot more at our website, 342 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: which is how stuff works dot com for more on 343 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. 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