Book Review

Rosa Parks – A Life, by Douglas Brinkley

Review by Sara McDermott

In Rosa Parks – A Life, Douglas Brinkley shows the steady un-compromising dedication to the cause of civil rights that Rosa Parks displayed throughout her life.  Parks never sought the limelight in the struggle for justice in the post civil war South.  She was a behind-the-scenes worker until a chance encounter with a bullying bus driver thrust her into the middle of a confrontation whose time had come.  Rebellious in her own way Parks kept rock solid faith in the goodness of humanity even when faced with the abuse heaped upon the citizens of Montgomery, her adopted city.  Rosa Parks contributed courage and perseverance to a cause that demanded both.  Douglas Brinkley never missed a chance to remind the reader that, through thick and thin, Parks was always available whenever she was needed to carry on the work of the civil rights movement.

Brinkley describes Rosa’s upbringing as influenced by a combination of moral rectitude from her mother and the courage to stand up to injustice from her grandfather.  Rosa’s education revolved around a firm Christian faith and the discipline meted out at Miss White’s Montgomery Industrial School for Girls.   Miss White taught her girls the self respect and dignity that Rosa carried with her throughout her life.  When her aging grandfather fell ill Rosa didn’t hesitate.  She gave up her own ambitions to go where she was needed.  She always, it seemed, put others first.

Parks was not naïve about the Jim Crow laws in the 1930’s South.  They were repugnant to her, as they were to all blacks.  She was able to get a job at an airstrip near Montgomery after she returned to school and earned a high-school diploma.  Maxwell Field was integrated, at least to the extent that Rosa could ride the base trolley.  This little taste of an integrated society spurred her to join the NAACP, where she later became a crusader in the fight for voting rights.

Rosa joined the NAACP at the age of thirty.  She tried to register to vote in 1943 and 1944.  The usual obstacles to blacks’ voting rights were thrown in her path.  For example, office hours at the registration places were always over before the line of black people could get in, a charge that most black people could not afford was affixed to the voting privilege and a literacy test was required.  After taking the literacy test the officials refused to show Rosa why she had failed.  Rosa fought down her frustration and tried to  register two more times in 1944 and 1945 before she finally got her registration in the mail.  She cast her first vote in the 1945 Alabama Governor’s race.  Rosa had shown her perseverance throughout.  It was no small feat for a black woman in the 1940’s South to earn the right to vote.

Through hard work with the NAACP Rosa became invaluable to the Montgomery branch.  She balanced books, worked with the press to get the NAACP message out and kept up on all reported instances of racial discrimination that occurred in the city.  By her active involvement in the affairs of the NAACP she was becoming known in political circles.  She was gaining self confidence.  As others were starting to appreciate her quiet persistence in the face of the uphill struggle for justice, Rosa marched on, working at her day job as a seamstress and attending NAACP meetings in the evening.

When Rosa Parks boarded and took a seat on a city bus on that December evening in 1955 it was with anticipation of a restful evening at home after a long hard day at work.  When the driver asked her and three others to vacate the forward seats to accommodate white passengers Rosa stayed in her seat while the others moved.  When the bus driver demanded she stand up Rosa’s “no” must have echoed throughout the silent car.

When Rosa Parks was arrested the Montgomery police didn’t have an inkling of the effect her arrest would have.  To them she was just another black woman getting out of her place.  To her friends and the black citizens of Montgomery she was an upright, hard working seamstress who never cause harm to anyone.  The police in Montgomery probably had never heard of a lawsuit over civil rights.  Civil rights meant nothing to them.

When Rosa’s boss at the NAACP proposed that her arrest be the basis for a challenge to the constitutionality of Montgomery’s bus segregation ordinance she balanced her decision in her usual way.  She considered the danger to her family and thought of the Christian upbringing that taught her to turn the other cheek.  She knew, however, that Christians were also taught to stand up in the face of oppression.  She gave her permission to the lawyers to file a civil rights suit on her behalf.

The impact her decision would have on the fight for equal rights could not have been estimated by those closest to the fire.

Rosa’s reputation and demeanor meant that the black population of Montgomery was immediately ready to go to war for her.

The press, sensing a good story, was at her door in a matter of days.  What started out as a local challenge grew to a nationally reported story, and the leaders of the white power structure in Montgomery were perturbed.

It was 1955 and school integration was still in the future.  The country had not yet seen the brutal resistance the South would put up for their “honor” when confronted with demonstrations counter to the code of Jim Crow.

Still, the Parks story resonated with people outside of Alabama.  By December 6th, 1955, five days after her arrest, the New York Times ran an article referring to Rosa by name in connection with the bus boycott.

I believe from reading the Brinkley biography that the reason the incident involving Rosa Parks took fire is because she stood so tall in the eyes of the community.  The leaders of Montgomery did not know what to make of her resistance.  They were used to considering anyone who challenged the status quo as trouble makers.  Their strategy was to sully their names and scare them out of protesting.

“They messed with the wrong one”, one of her admirers shouted on the first day of the boycott.

That explains a lot to me.  Rosa had become a symbol.  Once that happened the civil rights cause had a patron saint who could inspire others.

Rosa Parks’ effect on the civil rights movement will probably be dissected for years to come but, in my eyes, she represented freedom to other African-Americans of the time.  They reached higher because of her example.