55 years ago today, Negroes (to use the language of the day) in Montgomery AL were finishing the first week of what became a year-long bus boycott that initiated the nonviolent direct action phase of the civil rights movement.
The boycott was begun in response to the Dec. 1 arrest of Rosa Parks. I’ve been re-reading Mrs. Parks’ memoir, “Rosa Parks: My Story” (coauthored by Jim Haskins). It is a remarkable book—packed with meaning, and with lessons about leadership and organizing for systemic change in a (very imperfectly) democratic society.
The back cover of the 1992 Puffin Books paperback edition has in bold print at the top a quote from Mrs. Parks: “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
In part because of this book, a growing number of people know that Mrs. Parks was more than “just” a seamstress, tired at the end of a hard day’s work. She was fully aware of the consequences of breaking the bus segregation laws of Montgomery. She did so consciously, not because she was physically tired, but because she was mentally, emotionally, politically tired of giving in to Jim Crow.
In future diaries, I’ll write more reflections drawn from “Rosa Parks: My Story”. Today I just want to note that the first lesson from Rosa Parks’ story is that change does not happen randomly or accidentally. It happens when leaders take purposeful, targeted action that results in others joining their actions. Rosa Parks was such a leader.