Show -- Rosa Parks looks back on the day she refused to give up her seat on a bus and unleashed a movement that rocked the country I 1 i I 4 161 I I I -- ranted t r- r-r- -1 - e) AI r t 111:1 11C lime I -- ' 1 I 4 " I - A - V Aga Mt i 4 a reatel 9 risk-taki- I ' - 1 - 1 ' '''': 17 d: e' - 1 ' i 7 I :I t t f71 t 11 - ' ' I iI - : !il 'k d 11 r "111Itidv ' I kd''''''''''N r 440- - Lit! f -‘ i - 4 I - 00- ' 111 -- k 1 ' i " ' ' "' high-power- ed k A t l'Ae - k Our brief introduction that evening in 1986 rekindled my imagination: Who was Rosa Parks really? Who was she then? Who is she now? How could someone so apparently shy have been bold enough to challenge a whole system embedded in racism? Was she a i ' t i -- It : 11 I -- ' ' ' tr— ‘11‘ 1141 7 00 s k' otiD)1 It tC16- - 0 1 'limn- ) NM: j or i 0'' 1 ' - 1 ' t - N - IV ' 1 I 1 ( Oe'S 41 k-- T N - BY riP7 ''' j - t I '''' "When the policemen came on the bus the driver 4 : I Rosa Parts with participants of the Reverse Freedom Tour which educates youths about Civil Rights history Leh Being fingerprinted after arrest in 1955 I '14 ClIA)"- ' - I 1 1 — f 0 ful idealism had been fired 4) ' 1 )As an adolescent my youth- -' when I read about Rosa Parks Av - figurehead for the Civil Rights movement—perhaps as some have argued only a plant for the NAACP someone whose act was part of a master plan de- signed to foster a call for the desegregation of public transportation? Or was she the authentic heroine of my youth? I wanted to find out for myself My search finally ended late last year in Detroit It had not been easy to find her and it was even harder to fit into her schedule At the age of 78 Rosa Parks maintains a level of activity that would daunt someone half her age We met outside a church where she was appearing and the voices of children filled the air I was struck by the curious blend of seeming contradictions that she presented She is grandmotherly in appearance her hair a silvery crown yet she retains the grace of a young woman Rather than the imposing physical presence that one might expect she is petite and slim And she is that one must lean toward her to hear her words I asked her about that fateful day a Thursday Had she known when she got up that morning what lay ahead? Had there been a plan? "I wasn't planning to be arrested at all" she said "I would rather not have been arrested of course I had a full weekend planned It was December Christmastime It was the busy time of year she was a tailor's assistant in a men'i clothing store in Montgomery and secretary of the city's branch of the NAACP and I was preparing for the weekend workshop for the Youth Council" She turned slightly and an almost wistful expression crossed her face Then I was startled by a revelation that she offered almost offhandedly Suddenly she was talking about another day another time another bus—but the same driver "The same driver back in 1943 had evicted me from the bus" she said "It was not about a seat that time He wanted me to get off the bus and go around and get back on I wouldn't do it" In those days in the South black people were expected to board the hunt of the bus pay their fare then get off and wail outside soft-spok- rmo fr f ' ' ment of the birth of the Civil Rights can be isolated op- may be said that it was froml this one woman's singular ct reducible act of courage I e- - ::::' Are 0s so Ai ‘ ' 1 I i t I Marie Ragghlanti knows about In 1977 as chairman of Tennessee's Board 014Pardons and Paroles she exposed corruption in the administration of Gov Ray Blanton The federal investigation she set I off left that administration in disarray and ' made her the heroine of Peter Maas' bestselling book "Marie: A True Story" The ' daughter ofparents who were both active in the struggle for rights for blacks in the South Marie grew up revering Rosa Parks whose act ofpersonal courage had sparked the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s Ragghianti recently went in search of the real person behind the heroine of her youth and to hear from Rosa Parks herself what had happened on that day in 1955 FIRST MET ROSA PARKS IN NEW York City in 1986 at a gathering of feminist and political leaders My impression remains vivid She was poised even regal yet there was a distinct modesty and an aura of spirituality about her Thirty-si- x years ago on a bus in Montgomery Ala Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man defying a Southern tradition of decades To appreciate that act we have to remember that the mid-195were a time when the Ku Klux Klan was in its heyday when the 1954 Supreme Court ruling against segregation in the schools had fanned the bigotry of white supremacists and when lynchings of blacks in the Deep South were being widely reported If the precise mo- t ) pointed to me and said 'That one won't stand up' I asked 'Why do you treat us this way?" MARIE RAGGHIANTI PACE 20 JANUARY 19 1992 PARADE MADAME I C Li Ir |