Person of the Month: Rosa Parks

                                   

                              "Each person must live their lives as a model to others" - Rosa Parks

Though we come to the end of Black History Month, it important to reflect on its historical significance. Black History Month, also known as African- American History Month in America was created in 1926 in the United States by historian, Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Contrary to popular belief, February was chosen, not because it was the shortest month as an affront to Black people, but because it was the month that Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas were born. It is celebrated annually in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdoms in honor of the contributions of African diaspora. It was designated in 1976 as a month long celebration by the federal government.

Woodson created the then-week of celebration and reflection in the hope that one day it would be ultimately eliminated when African-American history became fundamental in American history. Unfortunately, that time has not come as proven by the fact that you still are not required to study Black history in order to receive a degree in History. But we are hopeful because, at least, one month each year all Americans and the world, at large, are given the opportunity to be further enlightened and awed by the depth of historical contributions by some unappreciated members of this very young nation.

This year is more significant still with Rosa Parks, the mother of the Civil Rights movement, being memorialized with a statue in the nations capitol of Washington, D.C. A bronze statue of Parks was unveiled in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building along side such figures as confederate general, Jefferson Davis and President Ronald Reagan. Parks (1913-2005), is the first African American women to grace the famed hall. "In a single moment, with the simplest of gestures she help change America and change the world...And today, she takes her rightful place among those who shaped our nation's course", said President Barack Obama, another of this nation's first.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks became the symbol of the Civil Rights Movement with a peaceful act of defiance during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She refusing to give up her seat to a white, male patron. She was arrested by authorities, and though she was not the first to defy this despicable law, hers gave a much needed spark to the righteous indignation of the Civil Rights struggle. The U.S. Congress has coined her " the mother of the freedom movement". Parks, worked for the NAACP and collaborated strategy with Edgar Nixon, president of NAACP local chapter and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the most noted of all the Civil Rights icons.

Parks, served as secretary of John Conyer, U.S. Representative from Detroit, Michigan from 1965- 1968. Parks who described herself as a person "tired of giving in", did not go without her share of tribulations. She was fired from her job as a seamstress and her case was bogged down in court. She retired and lived out her days in Detroit, living a mostly private life and writing her autobiography.

Parks is the recipient of 1979 NAACP Spingarn Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. She has also appeared on a U.S. Postal Stamp. Upon her death in 2005, she was the first female and second non- government official to lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.

Parks left not only a lasting legacy of action, but the encouragement of these words of wisdom: "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".

For her quiet strength, assertive integrity and ever present spotlight on the contributions of women and minorities to humanity, Rosa Parks, posthumously, is our Write 4 Fools Person of the Month.