'Quiet' Rosa Parks was actually a longtime activist, called Malcolm X her hero
Sixty years after black seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the white section of a Montgomery, Alabama bus, was arrested on the evening of Dec. 1, 1955 and sparked a civil rights movement, she is an iconic figure.
However, much of what people may think they know about Parks, routinely described as “quiet” in tributes since her death in 2005, could be mistaken, a City University of New York professor writes in a Washington Post (reg. req.) column.
Documents included in the Rosa Parks Collection at the Library of Congress, which went on exhibit earlier this year, show she was a longtime civil rights activist even before her arrest, made a point of speaking her mind and standing up for herself and considered Malcolm X her personal hero, writes Jeanne Theoharis. She is a professor of political science at CUNY’s Brooklyn College.
Another Washington Post (reg. req.) story provides more details about the exhibit and a Library of Congress web page offers research pointers.
Related coverage:
ABA Journal: “1955-1964: Civil rights struggle gains momentum”
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