Mrs Elaine Eason Steele, executive assistant to Mrs Parks and co-founder with her of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, talks about the day Rosa Parks was arrested on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama and an amazing coincidence. Click below for a transcript of this clip.
Mrs Steele talks about how Mrs Parks first met Dr King in Montgomery. Click below for a transcript of this clip.
Mrs Steele explains why Mrs Parks was the right person at the right time. Click below for a transcript of this clip.
Montgomery is the capital city of Alabama. It was a big, busy, important city. Click below for a transcript of this clip.
Mrs Steele talks about one of the most famous photos in history. It doesn’t show what people often think it does. Click below for a transcript of this clip.
Mrs Steele talks about the long history of civil rights activism that Mrs Parks had even before the bus boycott. Click below for a transcript of this clip.
What life was like for Mr and Mrs Parks in Montgomery? Click below for a transcript of this clip.
After the boycott, life in Montgomery became intolerable for Mr and Mrs Parks. Mrs Parks’ brother Sylvester was already settled in Detroit. So they and Mrs Parks’ mother moved there, and that is where she met Mrs Steele. Click below for a transcript of this clip.
What was Mrs Parks like? Click below for a transcript of this clip.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 5th 1955-December 20th 1956
In the papers of TM Alexander at the Atlanta Fulton Public Library is the only surviving copy of the insurance agreement between Lloyds of London and Christian Churches of Montgomery (Lloyds have lost their copy).
In 1956 authorities in Alabama tried to break the boycott by making it impossible for the churches to renew insurance policies on the cars they had purchased to transport protesters. However Lloyds of London accepted the policy, the cars were kept on the roads and this crucial and moral boosting network of alternative transportation could continue. Mrs Parks worked as one of the co-ordinators of this highly effective church car pool. Images courtesy of the Auburn Avenue Research Library On African American Culture and History, Atlanta, Georgia
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