Rosa Parks

I moved from Rock Island, IL to Memphis, TN in 1964 and I found out that I was in for a little culture shock. The blacks still sat at the back of the bus. There were still "white only" drinking fountains and even wash-a-trias. I was fascinated by the way whites treated blacks as second class citizens. Only black people worked as garbage men and somehow the laws were tortured to allow a below-the-minimum wage to be paid for this work. It was unconscionable.

Rosa Parks stands out as a hero. She was a dignified lady in every way. When she was asked to give up her seat on a bus by a white MAN after she had worked a full day, she simply said, "no."
This hero of the great-white-hope of a man then threatened Rosa. He said, "Well, by God, I'm going to have you arrested." Rosa simply replied, " you may do that." And he did. The rest is history.

The black people of the town were outraged and started a boycott of the bus line. The bus line was almost bankrupted by this because the ridership was mostly black. Thus began the civil rights crusades of the 1960's. Climaxing in the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.

It all began 50 years ago with Rosa Parks. Thank you Lord for this lady in our lives.