BCR Leading Ladies: Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks, dubbed the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, is best known for her refusal to give up her seat on the bus to a White man. The story has been told many times over and over until to some, it may have become so common that it may have lost its meaning. But not for me. Never. You see, I experienced the story first hand for myself because I grew up in Montogmery, the birth place of the Civil Right’s movement. I have heard that story told many times over by my parents who were first hand participants in “the walk to the Movement.”

Growing up in Montgomery was quite an educational experience. I have been able to walk the same streets and ride the same bus that the mother’s and father’s of “the Movement” walked and rode. When I listen to my mother as she recounts how she walked miles and miles to go to work, it makes me more aware of the blessings that I have and the resources that I can enjoy because they ALL sacrificed.

My mom, dad, Rosa Parks and other pioneers of the Movement are a large contributing part of why there is freedom for me today. I appreciate Rosa Parks making the defiant stand to say “no” and willing to pay the consequences for it. She is for sure a Leading Lady.