Rosa Parks, the woman whose defiance sparked the modern US civil rights movement, died in her sleep at her home in Detroit, Michigan today, Tuesday 25 October 2005.

Our generation cannot begin to understand life under the US segregation laws, a dark and nasty hangover from the Civil War, which demanded separation of the races on buses, in restaurants and other public areas.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat near the front of a Montgomery, Alabama city bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had her arrested for violating the law.

This one act of defiance and her consequential arrest led to a mass boycott of the Montgomery bus system, organized by a then unknown Baptist minister, Reverend Martin Luther King.

We all know what happened after that and Rosa Parks became a symbol for all of us who believe in a society free from discrimination and prejudice, a society where all are equal to each other.

The purpose of this blog is:

(a) to remember Rosa Parks and what she did for American society and the fight for equality across the world;

(b) to remind myself that it only takes one person to stand up for what’s right; and

(c) to reflect that previous generations produced many great figures who actually changed the world, and to wonder who will be the future leaders and thinkers of our generation?

Jo xx

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