The U.S., North Carolina and Elon flags were flown at half-mast Wednesday, Nov. 2, to commemorate the life of Rosa Parks, the “mother of the civil rights movement.” Details...
A wreath and information poster was placed in front of the Belk Library. Books were on display inside the library. A slide show ran throughout the day on the plasma screens in Moseley, Alamance, and McEwen buildings. These simple measures were to remind the campus of the power of one courageous individual to inspire positive change and to honor this true American heroine.
Rosa Lee Parks whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement died of natural causes on Oct. 24 at age 92. She will be remembered throughout history for her act of defiance in 1955 that was to change the course of American history and earn her the title “mother of the civil rights movement.” The Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress, an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people, was riding on a city bus Dec. 1, 1955, when a white man demanded her seat. Mrs. Parks refused, despite rules requiring blacks to yield their seats to whites. She was arrested, jailed and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system, organized by a then little-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The Montgomery boycott marked the start of the modern civil rights movement. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in December 1956 that segregated seats on city buses were unconstitutional, giving momentum to the battle against laws that separated the races in public accommodations and businesses. The movement culminated in the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act in 1964. In 1999, Ms. Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Ms. Parks was buried in Detroit on Wednesday, Nov. 2.
Smith Jackson
Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students