Rosa’s b-day

On Feb 4 1913 this woman was born:


Rosa Louise Parks

On December 1, 1955 she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger on a city bus in Montgomery Alabama.  She was arrested and by Dec 5 there was a wave of similar protests across the country, as well as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

What many of her official biographies dont mention, but is covered in Wikipedia is that the summer before this famous arrest she attended Highlander Folk School which trains activists (including Martin Luther King Jr).

Highlander was so successful that to sparked a backlash. In 1957, the Georgia Commission on Education published a pamphlet titled “Highlander Folk School: Communist Training School”.  The FBI accused one of it’s founders of being the district director of the Communist Party.  The state of Tennessee deregistered the  school in 1961, only to have the staff reincorporate it a year later.

Rosa was not an innocent who stood up, she was trained by the best.  And we have all gained from her skill and bravery.