Rosa Parks in the 1960's (with Martin Luther King in the background). Also, in her mugshot after her infamous arrest on the bus.
In her later years. I believe she died in 2005.
I am watching the movie "The Rosa Parks Story" on TV today, with Angela Bassett as Parks. I recommend it; it would be educative for people who are not familiar with her story. I think too many people forget (or don't really even believe) how things really were then. I decided to do at least some small thing to think of and honor Dr. King today. Granted, this isn't much, but my heart is there.
I watched the Obama Inauguration concert yesterday, and admit to feeling a long-forgotten hope for the future of race relations that I used to feel when I listened to Dr. King speak. I also listened to King's entire "I Have A Dream" speech from 1963, and was instantly brought back to that time, when I was 15 years old and very affected by the civil rights movement. I was especially touched to see Pete Seeger (who must be 90 or so) there, leading the other performers and thousands in the audience in singing "This Land Is Your Land;" that brought back so many memories of that time and that song as my introduction to folk music, which I love to this day. Ideas about fairness and right and wrong were implanted in my mind and in my heart, through both the movement and the music; I could not have foreseen how they would influence me for the rest of my life, but they certainly have, and I believe for the better (although not always easier).
No comments:
Post a Comment