The Change
When one African American woman heard the "well-respected" Rosa Parks had been arrested she exclaimed, "They've messed with the wrong one now." In the South, city buses were neon signs for civil rights activists. It took someone with the "courage and character" of Rosa Parks to start a revolution. (5)
The 17,000 African American residents of Montgomery worked together and kept the boycott going for over a year. Finally, the Supreme Court intervened and declared "segregation on buses unconstitutional." Defeating the racist system with the help of the boycotters, Rosa Parks was named "the mother of the civil rights movement." (6)
Civil Rights movements started to progress and be seen more often after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For example, after the boycott in 1957 the first black teenagers attended all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. These young African American students "challenged segregation in the deep south and won." Many school systems defied the law that outlawed segregation in schools by threatening and intimidating African American students- this Central High School was a notorious example.
This did not stop the Little Rock Nine, they were determined to attend the school and receive the same education as any other white student. Things "grew ugly and frightening right away." The governor of Arkansas ordered the state's National Guard to block the black students from entering the school on the first day. President Eisenhower had to send federal troops in to protect the students.
But that was only the beginning, every morning on their way to school swarms of angry white people "taunted and insulted the Little Rock Nine- they even received death threats." Fifth teen year old Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, said "I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob... I looked into the face of an old woman, and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat at me." As scared as the students were, they would not give up, and several went on to graduate from Central High School. "Nine black teenagers challenged a racist system and defeated it," after the Montgomery Bus Boycott gave courage to African American's all over the US to stand up for themselves. (6)
The 17,000 African American residents of Montgomery worked together and kept the boycott going for over a year. Finally, the Supreme Court intervened and declared "segregation on buses unconstitutional." Defeating the racist system with the help of the boycotters, Rosa Parks was named "the mother of the civil rights movement." (6)
Civil Rights movements started to progress and be seen more often after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For example, after the boycott in 1957 the first black teenagers attended all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. These young African American students "challenged segregation in the deep south and won." Many school systems defied the law that outlawed segregation in schools by threatening and intimidating African American students- this Central High School was a notorious example.
This did not stop the Little Rock Nine, they were determined to attend the school and receive the same education as any other white student. Things "grew ugly and frightening right away." The governor of Arkansas ordered the state's National Guard to block the black students from entering the school on the first day. President Eisenhower had to send federal troops in to protect the students.
But that was only the beginning, every morning on their way to school swarms of angry white people "taunted and insulted the Little Rock Nine- they even received death threats." Fifth teen year old Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, said "I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob... I looked into the face of an old woman, and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat at me." As scared as the students were, they would not give up, and several went on to graduate from Central High School. "Nine black teenagers challenged a racist system and defeated it," after the Montgomery Bus Boycott gave courage to African American's all over the US to stand up for themselves. (6)
Rosa Parks' work and accomplishments gave courage to African Americans to fight against discrimination. The chain of events that were triggered by Rosa's arrest changed the United States.