Rosa Parks
On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
Her brave stand against segregation kicked off the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which in turn began the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
Selected Library Sources
Books and Articles
The thunder of angels: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the people who broke the back of Jim Crow (eBook, 2006) by Donnie Williams and Wayne Greenhaw
“This fast-moving story reads like a legal thriller but is based solely on documented facts and firsthand accounts, presenting the compelling and never-before-told stories of the beginning of the end of segregation.”
The rebellious life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (print book, 2013) by Jeanne Theoharis
“Presenting a powerful corrective to the popular iconography of Rosa Parks as the meek seamstress who with one act birthed the modern civil rights movement, the author excavates Parks’s political philosophy and six decades of political work to reveal a woman whose existence demonstrated–in her own words–a ‘life history of being rebellious.’”
“The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the fall of the Montgomery city lines” (article in the Alabama Review, 2015) by Felicia McGhee
“…discusses the dispute between the city’s African American community and the state’s city laws, the arrest of African American citizen Rosa Parks on the city bus, and a brief history of the treatment of African American passengers on the city’s buses.”
Films
Awakenings (1954-1956) (55-min. film from Eyes on the Prize series, 1994) by PBS
“Individual acts of courage inspire black Southerners to fight for their rights: Mose Wright testifies against the white men who murdered young Emmett Till, and Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.”
The Rosa Parks Story (1 hr. 34-min. film, 2001) by Xenon Pictures, Inc.
“This American-made film directed by Julie Dash features Angela Basset as Rosa Parks and Cicely Tyson as her mother.”
Montgomery Bus Boycott (4-min. film, 2018) by Media Rich Learning
“They said Rosa Parks was tired, but the only ‘tired’ she was was tired of giving in. Mrs. Parks’ courageous act of civil disobedience inspired the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.”
“TEDTalks: David Ikard—The Real story of Rosa Parks — and why we need to confront myths about Black history” (18-min. video, 2020) by TED
“Equipped with the real story of Rosa Parks, professor David Ikard highlights how making the realities of race more benign and digestible harms us all–and emphasizes the power and importance of historical accuracy.”
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