How did King get to Birmingham in 1963?

Tell the Rosa Parks story

Rosa Parks: tired old woman or civilly disobedient activist?

Rosa Parks,Executive Secretary, NAACP

Dec. 1, 1955

N.A.A.C.P = National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People,February 12, 1909

Rosa Parks,Executive Secretary, NAACP

Dec. 1, 1955

Mrs. Parks called her mother from jail, and told her to call E. D. Nixon

Rosa Parks,Executive Secretary, NAACP

Dec. 1, 1955

Mrs. Parks called her mother from jail, and told her to call E. D. Nixon

E.D. Nixon, President, NAACP, Montgomery, AL

Rosa Parks,Executive Secretary, NAACP

Dec. 1, 1955

Mrs. Parks called her mother from jail, and told her to call E. D. Nixon

E.D. Nixon, President, NAACP, Montgomery, AL

Clifford & Virginia Durr, Montgomery Civil Rights Activists

Rosa Parks,Executive Secretary, NAACP

Dec. 1, 1955

Mrs. Parks called her mother from jail, and told her to call E. D. Nixon

E.D. Nixon, President, NAACP, Montgomery, AL

Clifford & Virginia Durr, Montgomery Civil Rights Activists

Was this the “test case” they’ve been waiting for?

Rosa Parks,Executive Secretary, NAACP

Dec. 1, 1955

Mrs. Parks called her mother from jail, and told her to call E. D. Nixon

E.D. Nixon, President, NAACP, Montgomery, AL

Clifford & Virginia Durr, Montgomery Civil Rights Activists

Was this the “test case” they’ve been waiting for?

Rosa Parks, right person for the test case:

•NAACP Executive Secretary to E.D. Nixon

•Signed Martin Luther King’s appointment letter to the Executive Council of the Montgomery, AL. NAACP

•Well-known, married, active in her church

•Daughter of sharecroppers, slept next to granddad’s rocking chair while he protected her the home with a shotgun during KKK night raids

•She and husband, Raymond, were active in the campaign to free the Scottsboro Boys, 1931

•Active in the Right to Vote Campaign during WWII, finally registered in 1946

Rosa Parks, right person for the test case:

•Defended young black men accused of rape, advised the NAACP Youth Council, and attended leadership training conferences

•1954 met with Montgomery city officials to notify them that the segregated buses were the biggest concern of the local NAACP

•Summer 1955 attended Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, learning strategies and tactics, and theories of social reform and civil rights.

E.D. Nixon called Fred Gray to represent Rosa Parks

E.D. Nixon called Fred Gray to represent Rosa Parks

Called Thurgood Marshall, Chief Legal Counsel for NAACP

E.D. Nixon called Fred Gray to represent Rosa Parks

Called Thurgood Marshall, Chief Legal Counsel for NAACP

Fred Gray called Professor Jo Ann Robinson at Alabama State College and leader of the Women’s Political Council.

Planned 1-day boycott of the buses

E.D. Nixon called Fred Gray to represent Rosa Parks

Called Thurgood Marshall, Chief Legal Counsel for NAACP

Fred Gray called Professor Jo Ann Robinson at Alabama State College and President of the Women’s Political Council.

Planned 1-day boycott of the buses

E. D. Nixon persuaded a young, reluctant 26-year-old minister to support the boycott

E. D. Nixon persuaded a young, reluctant 26-year-old minister to support the boycott

He was quickly elected President on December 5, 1955 of the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) that would organize the 55-week boycott.

What would he say that evening?

Rosa Parks: tired old woman or civilly disobedient activist?

Civilly disobedient activist.

Why does it matter how we tell the Rosa Parks story?