Rosa Parks Changed the World

She changed the world.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/july-dec05/parks_10-25.html

Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks died Monday at her home in Detroit at age 92. Two civil rights leaders discuss her life and legacy.

JEFFREY BROWN: It was, in a way, the most simple act imaginable: Sitting down on a bus. But when Rosa Parks refused to stand to make room for a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, in December, 1955, the act and the woman became part of American history and a symbol of racial justice worldwide.

In the 1987 PBS documentary "Eyes on the Prize," Parks described what happened when the bus driver asked her to move:

ROSA PARKS: He said, "Y'all make it light on yourself and let me have those seats."

And when the policeman approached me, one of them spoke and asked me if the driver had asked me to stand, and I said yes. He said, "Why don't you stand up?" I said, "I don't think I should have to stand up." And I asked him, I said, "Why do you push us around?" He said, "I do not know, but the law is the law, and you're under arrest."

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I went to see "Vincent Van Gogh: The Drawings " at the Met this weekend. It was the opening weekend and was a bit more crowded than usual. I'll try to make it back again by years end if I can. A really amazing collection of Drawings.



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