What If the Rosa Parks We Know Is a Complete Myth?

It was in Montgomery, Alabama, that Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat to a white passenger as the rules of segregation demanded of her at the time. She was arrested, in a move that initiated a 381-day bus boycott, which many see as the formal beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

Parks’ past actions are justifiably getting a lot of attention, given this momentous anniversary. She was recently praised by President Barack Obama for her “grace, dignity, and refusal to tolerate injustice.” And Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made her way to the church where Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor to give a speech. All this public praise confirms that America’s image of Parks is as a respectable, peaceful woman, who was simply looking to sit down at the end of a long day.

But not everyone is happy with the way we remember the now-deceased activist. Jeanne Theoharis is a professor who actually wrote a book, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, to clear up some common misconceptions about her life. Most importantly, Theoharis says that Parks was not meek, citing several examples of her standing up and rebelling against the strict segregation and discrimination of her age. For instance, Parks took on dangerous organizing tasks with her husband in response to lynchings and other racist happenings.

Teacher and poet Clint Smith updates our narrative about opportunity in America.