How Rosa Parks Changed History Forever | True Stories | Absolute History

[Music] I'm gonna tell you something about my life my name is Rosa Parks I was born in the year 1913 in the United States of America what happened to me the story I'm going to tell well it was such a surprise to me really but well you'll see what I mean [Music] I grew up on a farm in Montgomery Alabama I had to help out around the farm and every morning I picked up eggs laid by the chickens we kept the rat around our front yard [Music] my grandfather he live with us too and he liked to spend his afternoon sitting on the porch snoozing in the Sun or telling me stories everything seemed just right with the world it was a simple life and I was happy I was just seven when I began to notice things things that made me think that maybe the world wasn't quite right after all my grandfather would take me into town with him what I started to see was that the fact that a skin was black and not white made a difference I started to see that black people were kept apart from white people in all sorts of ways at the town hall black or colored people as we were called and white people had separate entrances [Music] in the waiting room we had to sit in separate seats even when the black people's seats were full we weren't allowed to sit in a white section [Music] at the bus stop we had to stand in line while the white people got to sit on a bench I found it all so confusing I really didn't understand what possible difference the color of your skin could mean everyone wore hats went to work ate lunch I don't know to me it seemed we were all the same but everyone acted like there was a difference like it was just the way things were we had to drink from a separate water fountain go to a different Church use a different public toilet [Music] I grew up still I didn't understand why the world was unjust to black people but the government made the rules so it seemed there was nothing we could do [Music] like everyone else I went along with it I followed the rules I use the black people's entrance drag from the black people's water fountain went to the black people's church [Music] I got a job working in a department store every day are waited for the bus to go to work [Music] when I boarded the bus I would sit like we always had to at the back end of the bus while the white people had a reserved section and a very friend [Music] if the white seats were full we had to give up her seat but a white person got on even if that meant standing up all the way it wasn't fair but those were the rules and like most people I just did what I was told and didn't make a fuss [Music] it was December 1st 1955 I don't know why it happened on this day it was a day like any other it had been a long day at work and I was eager to get home take off my shoes and rub my feet it was a day like any other I didn't know when I boarded the bus that afternoon that I was going to do what I did [Music] I took my seat in the row behind the white people's seats the white rows were full when another white lady boarded the bus I stay put I felt myself rooted to the spot just like a tree somehow in that moment I'd made up my mind [Music] for white people in front of me Tutt it and shook their heads I felt the black people behind me sit up a little straighter keen to see what would happen next the bus driver left is si but still I didn't budge [Music] somehow God made up my mind the white people in front of me tut it and shook their heads I felt the black people behind me leaned forward to see who it was that had dared to disobey the rules the police came but still I didn't merge I've never made a fuss before I'd never broke in any room let alone being arrested but somehow I'd made up my mind people said afterwards that I refused to give up my seat because I was tired true it had been a long day and my body ached but that's not why I refused to stand no the only tired I was was tired of giving in tired of being treated differently like a second-class citizen on account of the color of my skin everyone else I knew was tired of it too it was just we didn't know what to do about it my little act of defiance my refusal to give in it was a small thing to do I just wanted for once to be able to sit where I sit and to not have to give up my seat to someone else just because she was white it was a small thing to do but it was what happened afterwards that really mattered without knowing it I'd started something that very even news of my tiny protest got around people got together and called anyone they could think of they wanted everyone to know what I had done It was as if they'd all been waiting for a chance to do something and my simple refusal to stand up on a bus one afternoon had given them that chance plans started to form for a bus boycott the idea was that on the monday when my case would go to court all the black people in montgomery should walk to work and refuse to take the bus that way the bus company would lose money and that way people would see that i wasn't the only one who was tired of giving in tired of being treated badly monday 5th of december was the day of my court case I was found guilty of not following the rules and fined $14 which was a lot of money in those days to someone like me but it didn't matter what did matter was what was going on outside most of Montgomery's 40,000 black workers and some white people too didn't take the bus to work or school some share cause some road bicycles they wanted to show the world that they had all had enough they marched through the street and there were so many of them it was impossible to ignore [Music] the buses were almost empty the protests continued long after I'd paid my fine and gone back to my job altogether people stayed off the buses and walk to work for 381 days it became a powerful symbol that we were tired of giving in the newspapers wrote about the protest people all over America could see what was going on eventually the government had to do something they made a new rule black people no longer had to sit in a separate section of the bus we would never again have to give up our seats to someone just because they were white black people and white people were still kept separate in other ways but it was a start a step towards equality and justice I was just an ordinary person and I was amazed at what I started I was so glad that on that day I made up my mind and I refused to budge [Music]

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 10,827

Rating: 4.6641974 out of 5

Keywords: history history documentary funny history fun history school, timeline, rosa parks, civil rights, black history month, black history, bbc teach, absolute history, rosa parks bus boycott, rosa parks bus story, rosa parks bus boycott video, civil rights movement, civil rights movement documentary, civil rights movies, martin luther king jr, martin luther, martin luther king jr last speech

Id: 6Tc_-sMQOjU

Length: 12min 2sec (722 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 31 2019