Rosa Parks lives on in the struggles of all people who wish to change regimes based on oppression. As an individual, she refused to give up her seat to a white man,  but, in doing so, gave expression to the aspirations of millions of other African-Americans and Americans generally who opposed racism. It was in expressing these wider aspirations that a mass movement was unleashed into a new stage that eventually toppled the dominant order of things in the segregated southern states of the US. Rosa Parks' action led to great chaos and disorder - both of which were necessary for victory in the defeat of segregation.

Her achievement proved two truths: a single spark can start a prairie fire and 'It is right to rebel'.

The Montgomery Advertiser has this portal on her life and its context, including video and audio links: http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/frontpage.htm 

Barry 

Warning:  It's 2.5 mb)

A Montgomery (Ala.) Sheriff's Department

booking photo of Rosa Parks

On that notable day in 1955 at about 6 p.m., Mrs. Parks boarded the bus in downtown Montgomery, paid her fare, and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks (near the middle of the bus, behind the 10 seats reserved for whites). Initially, she had not noticed that the bus driver was the same man, James Blake, who had mistreated her in 1943. As the bus traveled through its regular route, all of the "white-only" seats in the bus were filled. The bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white passengers boarded the bus. Following the standard practice of segregation, Blake noted that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers and there were two or three men standing and thus moved the sign behind Parks and demanded that four blacks give up their seats in the middle section so the white passengers could sit. By Parks' account, Blake said, "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." ^[3] Three of them complied. Parks said, "The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't." ^[4] The black man sitting next to her gave his seat up. Parks moved, but toward the window seat. She did not get up or off her seat.^[5] Blake said, "Why don't you stand up?" Parks said, "I said I don't think I should have to stand up." Blake called the police to arrest Parks. When recalling the incident for Eyes on the Prize, a 1987 public television series on the civil rights movement, Parks said, " When he saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up and I said, 'No, I'm not'. And he said, 'Well, if you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police and have you arrested.' I said, 'You may do that.' " When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, " Why do you push us around?" The officer's response, "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest." She added, "I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind." Parks was charged with a violation of Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code even though she had not taken up a "white-only" seat — she was in a "colored section" but she was told to get up to allow a white man to sit. Four days later, she was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance. The trial lasted 30 minutes. Parks was found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs.^[6] Parks appealed her conviction and formally challenged the legality of racial segregation. Years later, in recollecting the events of the day, Parks said, "When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

All honor to Rosa Parks for having the courage to do what she did.

 I suppose the news stories will tell you that she was just an ordinary person, a local seamstress, who just got tired one day and sat down in a "White" bus seat and refused to get up.

Utter nonsense.

She was an officer of the local NAACP, and had received training in how to fight segregation at the far Left wing Highlander Folk School.

The Far Right made a big deal of this and shrieked about "Communist infiltration" and "outside agitators".

And they were right! The struggle for Black freedom in the South did benefit from the advice, participation, and material support of outside forces, some of them Communists. Conservatives should have been there too, but sadly we weren't.

And the Federal Government certainly had a hand in things too, sending the Army in at various points to defend Blacks threatened by the racists. (Google on Little Rock, 1957.)

The real point is that struggles for freedom are seldom purely spontaneous. They need to be organized and led by dedicated people supported by organizations which have expertise and experience. In other times, some of these organizations were called vanguard parties.

The struggle for freedom in Third World tyrannies will also not be spontaneous. It needs our support: advice, money, training, and sometimes, guns and soldiers, just as the Southern Freedom Struggle did.

It's ironic that today liberals and Leftists -- most of them -- turn their back on this struggle, and conservatives -- some of them, anyway -- champion it. But I think I know where Karl Marx would have been.

Doug

Thanks for the additional information about Rosa.  I just did some googling and the extreme (fascist) right is still shrieking about Rosa being a “commie” (eg http://judicial-inc.biz/rosa_parks.htm).  

I  think  that communists have always been among the most militant fighters for democratic rights  - and have consistently  provided the most effective leadership.  Of course this isn’t something that the mainstream eulogies for Rosa Park are likely to point out!  (and they probably wish that the fascists would shut up about it...)

You write:

It's ironic that today liberals and Leftists -- most of them -- turn their back on this struggle, and conservatives -- some of them, anyway -- champion it. But I think I know where Karl Marx would have been.

But conservatives (by definition) either support the status quo (or want to turn the clock back)  whereas leftists support progress and fight oppression….. so something is very wrong with the way these terms are currently being used.   

There's a fascinating realignment taking place in the American two party system with the Republican Secretary of State acknowledging at Rosa's state funeral with military guard of honor as the first woman entombed at capitol hill that Condaleeza wouldn't be where she is if Rosa had obeyed the law - not long after opposing the gun control lobby by reminiscing that her own dad exercised his right to bear arms patrolling Alabama's churches protecting them from racist bombers. Condoleeza has also mentioned that her family was Republican because being black they weren't eligible to join the Democrats (Dixiecrats) in those days

Meanwhile Bush has just pinned a Congressional Medal on Muhammed Ali. Maybe I'm hallucinating but I also seem to recall some recent official celebration of Paul Robson (openly a notorious communist) as well.

Let's hope the Democrats run Hilary. Then all the Republicans need to do is run Condy under a "Party of Lincoln" banner and we can reasonably hope the pseudos will start making snide remarks about her being a closet lesbian.

Arthur's claim about the racism of the Democrat Party in the southern states of the US in the 1950s, and its impact on the family of Condoleeza Rice, is confirmed by a recent biography of Rice, titled 'Condi, written by Antonia Felix.

The following quote from an excerpt published in the Sunday Times says it all:

"Blacks had won the right to vote in 1869 after the civil war, but the Southern states circumvented the law. And when President Harry Truman brought in racial integration policies in 1948 the powerful Southern Democrats had split off to fight him as the “Dixiecrats”, determined to stop blacks from registering to vote. Rice tells the story that when her father tried to register as a Democrat in 1952, the registrar told him he had to guess the number of beans in a jar correctly before he could do so. His reaction was to join the Republican party."  

The link to the whole excerpt is here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1367314,00.html  

At another site, it is stated that Condoleeza became a Republican atfer watching on TV the 1984 Democrat Convention. Here's part of the report:

"She says she became a Republican when she watched the 1984 Democratic Convention on TV, and decided that the Democrats' appeals to "women, minorities, and the poor" really meant "helpless people and the poor." Rice said, "I decided I'd rather be ignored than patronized.""

The full report is at: http://www.nndb.com/people/205/000024133/  

In my opinion, her life thus far, and that of her family as described in Felix's excerpt, shows the importance of a fighting spirit over and above the current 'learned helplessness' (which is really a form of imposed helplessness). There's also a need to recognize the importance of education and the empowerment that can come from being able to read and write well. Her great-grandmother sounds truly inspirational!

As for the role of American communists in all this, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People was established in 1909 and was the leading organisation for black Americans for about half of the twentieth century. W. E. Dubois was its leader. He supported Stalin and Mao, and it's true to say that the NAACP had a strong communist influence and input from the 1910s to the 1950s. This Wikipedia link is about the NAACP but you may wish to click on the link to W. E. DuBois once your on the wikipedia page for more info about his politics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naacp 

Before signing off, and back to Rosa Parks for a moment, I think Doug also made an excellent point about Rosa Parks' background - which, as he says, included work with the NAACP.

Barry 

Maybe I'm hallucinating but I also seem to recall some recent official celebration of Paul Robson (openly a notorious communist) as well.

"The U.S. Postal Service commemoration of Paul Robeson in the Black Heritage postage stamp series is a fitting tribute to a man who symbolized excellence," said Tilghman. "Princeton University is honored to host this celebration of a distinguished resident of the Princeton community whose legacy as an artist, activist and intellectual continues to be recognized worldwide."

Robeson achieved worldwide fame as an actor, singer, athlete and activist. He joins 26 other outstanding African-American activists, theorists, educators and leaders honored by the Black Heritage series, including Martin Luther King, Jr.; Benjamin Banneker;
Dr. Carter G. Woodson; Madam C.J. Walker; Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz); Patricia Roberts Harris; Roy Wilkins; Langston Hughes; and Thurgood Marshall, who was honored in January 2003.

Born in Princeton, N.J. on April 9, 1898, Robeson broad range of talents was evident as early as high school, where he was an outstanding student and athlete. In 1915, he entered Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) on a scholarship and became the third African American to attend the school. He graduated as class valedictorian in 1919. Robeson was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an All-American football player.

From 1920 to 1923, Robeson helped pay his way through Columbia Law School in New York City by working as an athlete and a performer. He played professional football, served as assistant football coach at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and starred in the 1922 play "Taboo" in New York and in London (where it was renamed "Voodoo"). Robeson was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

After graduating from law school, Robeson briefly worked in a law firm, but he resigned after a white secretary refused to take dictation from him. By 1924, he had devoted himself to his career as a performer, playing the lead roles in productions of two Eugene O'Neill plays: "All God's Chillun Got Wings" and "The Emperor Jones." He played numerous stage roles during his career, but he was best known for his interpretation of the title character in Shakespeare's "Othello."

Robeson was renowned worldwide for his talents as a singer. He helped establish African-American spirituals as a legitimate American art form. In addition to his famous repertoire of spirituals, Robeson became well-known for performing and interpreting folk songs from around the world. "Ol' Man River," from the musical "Showboat," became his signature song.

Between 1925 and 1942, Robeson also appeared in several American and British movies, including the "The Emperor Jones," "Show Boat," "King Solomon's Mines," "Jericho," and his favorite, "The Proud Valley." His image became the personification of human dignity. Discouraged by the limited roles available to black actors in Hollywood, Robeson announced in 1942 he would no longer appear in films.

Well known as an activist, Robeson was an outspoken participant in labor and peace movements, and his public appearances were infused with his strong political beliefs, especially his principled stand against racism in the U.S. and around the world. He was opposed to colonialism in Africa and worked to assist and support African liberation Movements. Alarmed by the spread of fascism in Europe, Robeson was also a prominent supporter of the Allied war effort during World War II. In 1945, the NAACP awarded him its highest honor for achievement among African Americans, the prestigious Spingarn Medal.

Robeson died on Jan. 23, 1976, at the age of 77. His posthumous honors reflect his wide range of accomplishments: In 1978 he was honored by the United Nations for his opposition to apartheid in South Africa, in 1995 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and in 1998 he received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Many schools, community centers and theaters have been named for him, as well as numerous academic and cultural institutions.

“You Are the Un-Americans, and You Ought to be Ashamed of Yourselves”: Paul Robeson Appears Before HUAC