Lately, the assertion that the late American activist Rosa Parks and her husband, Raymond Parks, have a car has taken the internet by storm, with many social media users expressing a surprise.
It’s well known that Rosa is widely recognized for her Montgomery bus boycott protest, which started in the 1950s after she was detained for disregarding racial segregation on a public bus.
Since people had heard so much about Rosa Parks traveling by bus, they were startled to discover that her husband had a car via the internet. Many seem to criticize Rosa for this.
On February 17, 2024, a social media user named Xaviaer DuRousseau took to Threads and wrote, “Rosa Parks’ husband had a car and she took the bus just to be messy.”
In the comment section, while some showed their support for Rosa, some doubted that her whole Montgomery bus boycott protest was a planned one.
A commentator, Alex Treusk, commented, “She was an activist working with a team of lawyers. It was a planned protest to bring the case to the courts.” Likewise, the Instagram user DimpzMusicEnt doubted Rosa’s protest, writing,
Rosa Parks allegedly had a car 🚗 😳 so why was she riding the bus 🫢was this a planned protest 😉 #rosaparks #vlack
Via Instagram
Well, the authenticity of the news of Rosa Parks’ husband having a car is still a matter of question.
Amidst all the confusion and criticism, one part of the audience really appreciates Rosa Parks for drawing the American government’s attention to injustice at the time.
Rosa Parks’ detainment after refusing to give up her seat to white people on the bus commenced the Montgomery bus boycott protest!
Being born black, Tuskegee native Rosa Parks repeatedly faced racial discrimination in the public buses, mainly due to Montgomery’s segregation law that was passed in 1900.
In 1943, she faced such discrimination from a bus driver who took a bus fare from her, asked her to get on a bus from the back door, and left without her.
Fast forward to 12 years, she again confronted the same driver, and he asked her to give up her seat to a white person, which she refused.
Because of her refusal, police arrested Rosa, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott protest, which ended thirteen months later with the government ruling over the protester, calling the Montgomery ordinance ‘unconstitutional.’
Later, in her autobiography, My Story, Rosa talked about her move, writing,
People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true…. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
Via Archive
That protest undoubtedly brought a positive change for the black people living in Montgomery, but after that, Rosa and her husband’s life was not easy. They kept getting threats from people time and again.
Additional Information
- Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913, and died on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92.
- She married Raymond Parks in 1932. Her husband was a barber in Montogomery and a member of the NAACP, the Civil Rights Movement organization.
- Rosa and her husband, Raymond, had a 10-year age gap. Raymond was born in 1903 and passed away in 1977.
