Welcome to the liturgist podcast.

You are now listening to Black History is American History.

I'm William Matthews and I'm propaganda.

I'm Nikki Black and I'm Andre Henry.

Today's moment in Black History, Rosa Parks.

Rosa Lewis McColley Parks is the story of the everyday hero, the small acts of bravery

that can have huge ripple effects.

She's born February 4, 1913 and was an American activist in the civil rights movement, best

known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott.

The United States Congress called her the first lady of the civil rights, the mother of

the freedom movement.

On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks rejected bus drivers James F. Blake's

order to relinquish her seat in the colored section to a white passenger after the white's

only section was filled.

Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation, but the National Association

of the Advancement of Color People, the NAACP, believed that she was the best candidate

for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience in violating

the Alabama segregation laws.

Parks prominence in the community and her willingness to become a controversial figure

inspired the Black community to boycott the Montgomery buses for over a year.

The first major direct action campaign in the post-war civil rights movement.

Her case became bogged down in the state courts, but the Federal Montgomery bus lawsuit

...