Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)
African American civil rights activist and seamstress whom the U S Congress dubbed the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement".
Page 1 of 1
I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is anything such as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you're happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven't reached that stage yet.
We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down.
I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.
James Blake: Well, I'm going to have you arrested.
Rosa Parks: You may go on and do so.
Mrs. Rosa Parks is a fine person. And, since it had to happen, I'm happy that it happened to a person like Mrs. Parks, for nobody can doubt the boundless outreach of her integrity. Nobody can doubt the height of her character nobody can doubt the depth of her Christian commitment and devotion to the teachings of Jesus. And I'm happy since it had to happen, it happened to a person that nobody can call a disturbing factor in the community. Mrs. Parks is a fine Christian person, unassuming, and yet there is integrity and character there. And just because she refused to get up, she was arrested.
People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
“God has always given me the strength to say what is right... I had the strength of God and my ancestors with me”
Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.
Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.
I wanted to be free as everybody else. I didn't want to be constantly humiliated for something I had no influence on: the color of my skin.
Somebody has to say "Stop!" some time, and that seemed to be the right station to stop the constant harassment and find out, which human rights I was entitled to.
I didn't want to pay my fare and then go around the back door, because many times, even if you did that, you might not get on the bus at all. They'd probably shut the door, drive off, and leave you standing there.
I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.
I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground.
I did not get on the bus to get arrested I got on the bus to go home.
Page 1 of 1