"Rosa Parks was a demure seamstress who defied a Montgomery, Ala., bus driver's order to give up her seat to a white man because -- on that particular day -- she was tired. Her spontaneous act sparked a 1955 bus boycott that launched the civil rights movement.
Sound familiar? It should. It's the tale told in history books. It's
also just a tiny sliver of the truth. The flesh-and-blood Rosa Parks is a
lot more interesting. "It's sad, I think," author Danielle L. McGuire
told me. "We tend to like our heroes simple and meek."
"If we had a larger sense of who she was, a radical activist and
warrior for human rights," instead of a powerless individual struck by
chance, said McGuire, it would show the work and the time she put in
over many years."
Read the full article by by Mary C. Curtis on theroot.com.
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