Per Greg Alt "Most people know a bit about Rosa Parks getting arrested for refusing to give up her seat to an entitled white man. It's usually presented as a spontaneous action. In fact, she had been the secretary of the local NAACP for a dozen years and was frustrated with the lack of results." 1/5 - ThreadSky

nisishawl.bsky.social • 15 days ago

Per Greg Alt "Most people know a bit about Rosa Parks getting arrested for refusing to give up her seat to an entitled white man. It's usually presented as a spontaneous action. In fact, she had been the secretary of the local NAACP for a dozen years and was frustrated with the lack of results." 1/5

Comments

sounddude.bsky.social•15 days ago

Sit down and speak up!

vivekgani.bsky.social•15 days ago

Related - here's Tomas Björkman in a @tgspodcast.bsky.social interview referencing Rosa Parks and Myles Horton (co-founder of Highlander Folk School) also mentioned in the book the Nordic Secret :

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TJa_6AHjLw0&t=4095s (at 1h08m)

Also https://bsky.app/profile/vivekgani.bsky.social/post/3lafszzrsya2z

chaos-dog1.bsky.social•15 days ago

Thanks for this...it's what people need to learn, relearn, and educate and re-educate others. People need to never forget this powerful and important part of history.
Reposting.

revjarrettkerbel.bsky.social•15 days ago

She was trained at the Highlander Institute and picked to do this protest because of her impeccable character. This was a well planned action. Pauli Murray did the same action 10 years earlier btw. Also, always remember the key role of women in the movement. Without Ella Baker zip would happen.

revjarrettkerbel.bsky.social•15 days ago

The spontaneous action story serves to distract from the work of organizing. This of us without money need each other to create power and force change.

stefcrowcolecat.bsky.social•15 days ago

Yes! The direct action campaigns and non-violent resistance trainings were a feature of the movement. They were planning, organizing, and testing tactics for years!

thinkdeepjoy.bsky.social•15 days ago

I didn’t learn this until I was in my 30’s and at a diversity in action workshop offered offsite by a consulting organization via my then employer. I was so glad to learn. I’d been taught the “she was tired” and she acted alone (with no support or backing) in every school I’d attended. Whew.

ninjafingers.bsky.social•15 days ago

Parks was a trained activist taking arrest risk intentionally. She knew exactly what she was doing and it worked.

nisishawl.bsky.social•15 days ago

"In fact, she had been the secretary of the local NAACP for a dozen years and was frustrated with the lack of results. That frustration led her to an intensive two week desegregation workshop at the Highlander Folk School in the summer of
1955, a few months before her action on the bus." 2/5

nisishawl.bsky.social•15 days ago

"Her handwritten notes from the workshop are available online. A bit hard to read but I liked this bit 'Desegregation prove itself by being put in action not changing attitude. attitudes will change'" 3/5

nisishawl.bsky.social•15 days ago

"The key was learning lessons from past actions elsewhere, developing a plan to win, and using trainings to both improve the plans and improve discipline in carrying them out." (Which kind of reminds me of The Five Petals of Thought movement I dreamt of.) 4/5

nisishawl.bsky.social•15 days ago

Link to Rosa Parks' handwritten notes from the Highlander School course she took which led to the famous bus boycott: https://www.crmvet.org/docs/5507park.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawIUtshleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXrVy-Zs5AeLS_SNBDtMD3jn2bF7OORZ_FB0UGTNWUSGf8YoxPbVQZiDbw_aem_7ruELmdrHAWbbo7n1gYX6Q 5/5

dearsplenda.bsky.social•15 days ago

my students are also always moved to learn that it was at least as much about defending Black women from harassment and sexual violence from white bus drivers

stlcatfishmike.bsky.social•15 days ago

She was also the second woman arrested for intentionally refusing to move. Meet Claudette Colvin. Inspired by her Civics class, 9 mos before Rosa, Claudette was 15 so not a good figurehead. Enter Ross.

sabrinawrites.com•15 days ago

My kids and I learned about Claudette — and that Rosa was a trained activist — thanks to the #HistoricalRecords podcast. Just another couple of lessons I wish I had learned in school.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/historical-records/id1769376742?i=1000671738120

stormwyrm.org•15 days ago

She was unmarried and pregnant at the time too, so her case was not highlighted. Parks herself commented: "If the white press got ahold of that information, they would have [had] a field day. They'd call her a bad girl, and her case wouldn't have a chance."

stlcatfishmike.bsky.social•15 days ago

That would have made it worse but the main impediment was that she was minor. She was named as a party to the suit.

nisishawl.bsky.social•15 days ago

Thank you! I had heard of Claudette, but never before seen a photo.

stlcatfishmike.bsky.social•15 days ago

It’s times like these it’s good to remember. Often the youth lead the way

https://www.foxla.com/news/los-angeles-protests-ice-raids-trump-immigration.amp

vincent1701.bsky.social•15 days ago

My little town had an ICE protest. Largest protest on this intersection I have seen in 20 years. Same size crowd on the other side of the street.

stlcatfishmike.bsky.social•14 days ago

Everything starts somewhere

apocalypsegrrl.bsky.social•15 days ago

📌

wilhelminaj.bsky.social•15 days ago

I so hope that the message that the younger generation learns from Rosa Parks is not “she was tired and sat down “, but “organize, study, and be prepared when your moment comes.”

saaremartha.bsky.social•15 days ago

I agree, This message is so much more powerful.

tfergsc.bsky.social•15 days ago

the truth is so much more powerful.

saaremartha.bsky.social•14 days ago

always - that's why the scum trying to steal our government and our freedom don't want us to know it

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