Rosa Parks, in her own words.

[AustinBoston]

"I'd see the bus pass every day...But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world."

Some time soon after 1944, she held a brief job on Maxwell Air Force Base, federal property where segregation was not allowed, and rode on an integrated trolley. Speaking to her biographer, Parks noted, "You might just say Maxwell opened my eyes up."

"My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest...I did a lot of walking in Montgomery."

"The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't."

"I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind."

Years later, in recollecting the events of the day, Parks said, "When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

"I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time...there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner."

"I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became."

"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."

Rosa Parks - February 4, 1913

[kine]

I guess one person can change the world. She also made history even in death, by being displayed in the hall.

[TheViking]

We have a section of the 10 freeway out here in SoCal that is named after Rosa Parks....funny thing is, there is no bus lane..   :confused: