Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

Background Information

The definition of segregation is to “impose the separation of a race or class from the rest of society” (Gordon). In the 1930's segregation was a way of life especially in the deep south. No one could go outside his race or class and be accepted. Blacks couldn't go to the same school as whites and public rest rooms had separate facilities for blacks and whites. Blacks had to ride in the back of buses and if a white person wanted that seat the black person was expected to give his seat to the white person. (Gordon) According to the Times in Montgomery the segregation laws were very complex.
“blacks were required to pay their fare to the driver, then get off and reboard through the back door. Sometimes the bus would drive off before the paid-up customers made it to the back entrance. If the white section was full and another white customer entered, blacks were required to give up their seats and move farther to the back; a black person was not even allowed to sit across the aisle from whites” (Dove).

This was not made easier by the fact that two-thirds of the bus riders in Montgomery were black (Dove).

This segregation and unfair treatment of black people in the United States brought about the American Civil Rights Movement for freedom of all people, white or black. The American Civil Rights Movement had many origins and precursors. The peak of the Movement's activities was in the period between 1955 and 1965. (Rosa Parks) One of the aims of the movement was achieved with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by congress however most historians believe the civil rights movement began on December 1, 1955 in the United States when a black seamstress from Montgomery, Alabama would not give up her seat to a white passenger. This unknown woman was Rosa Parks and she was arrested and fined for violating city ordinance but her act sparked a movement that ended legal segregation...