Rosa Parks

That Day On The Bus

On a cool day in Montgomery Alabama on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks decided that she was done being treated like a second class citizen. That day, when she was asked to vacate her seat on the bus for a white man, she made the fury filled decision to take a stand. 

She was seated in the front of the black section of the bus. Throughout the stops, the bus slowly accumulated additional passengers. She was asked to abandon her seat so a standing white man could occupy it. When she refused, the bus driver, James Blake warned Rosa, "If you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police and have you arrested." Rosa calmly replied, "You may do that."

Some say that Parks was physically tired however, she said, "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."  Although Rosa's actions were not premeditated, she knew that they would have a magnanimous effect upon the black community, especially its transportation systems.

Go to this website to get some background about how African Americans were treated in the 1940s and early 1950s. This can help you get a better understanding about the way African Americans were treated and how tired they wer of being treated poorly.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8252305873202662972&ei=8piaS53eGYz-qAK8782BDQ&q=rosa+parks&hl=en&client=safari

What would you do if you were an African American living during this time? Do you think you could stand up for something you believed in? Even if it was against the law?

Through this webquest I hope you understand the life of Rosa Parks and the hardships she faced as a black woman in a time in America where African Americans were not treated as equals.