People should not be afraid to take a stand against unjust laws. In United States history, numerous people have disregarded laws and societal norms to instigate transformative change within their communities. Disobedience brings more attention to the unfairness present in society, leading people to question the validity of the laws that they have in place. This inquisition can lead to the termination or adjustment of laws to bring change. In other words, civil disobedience can be the driving force that promotes equality and fairness within society. Irish author Oscar Wilde had a similar sentiment. He claimed that disobedience is a valuable human trait that promotes social progress. Wilde’s claim is valid because we can see through examples …show more content…
Rosa Parks disobeyed segregation laws as she denied to give up her seat to a white passenger on an overpopulated bus. This disobedience brought long-lasting change to the black community by instigating the start of the bus boycotts. The bus boycott, which lasted over a year, started as Rosa Parks challenged her arrest. All over Montgomery, African Americans refused to ride the buses or use public transportation to terminate the bus segregation law. Due to the longevity, determination, and assertiveness of the participants of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Supreme Court felt the impact of the boycott. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional as the law did not provide equal rights and protection under the 14th amendment. Rosa Parks' disregard for the law encouraged social progress in America. African Americans had the right under the law to sit wherever they wanted on a bus regardless of their race. Legally, on buses, white and African Americans were in equal standing. Park’s disobedience pushed the nation and its government to take a step toward racial equality. Without her disobedience, there would have been a lack of awareness, action, and transformative change. Rosa Parks’ disobedience was crucial to the advancement of African American rights, which supports Wilde’s claim. However, Rosa Parks is not the only person in US History whose civil disobedience led to the promotion of civil
The 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was a success in bringing equality among the racial segregation within buses and bus stations. One day in 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving when she was told to, which led to the call of boycotting against buses. Afterwards, African Americans gathered together and made a stance in refusing to ride buses as a protest against the unfair treatments they have endured on the buses (Document 2). Despite breaking black discriminating laws, they followed a nonviolent approach during their protest, which developed a progress toward equality. In addition, many blacks decided to avoid buses overall by finding different methods of transportation after the police started harassing the black taxi drivers.
Throughout history disobedience has led to great progress and prosperity. Disobedience has led to some of history's greatest social movements. Throughout history, many people have risen and rebelled to create great social progress. I honestly think that disobedience is man's original virtue. Disobedience has brought about change and revolution and can be brought up by anyone, regardless of color and gender.
She did not accept this situation. With help from civil rights lawyers, Rosa helped challenge laws about segregation. The incident sparked a 13 month boycott of busses in Montgomery by African Americans organized by Dr. Martin Luther King Junior and the Montgomery Improvement Association. The aftermath of this incident had a negative effect on Rosa’s immediate life. Parks lost her job, received threats, and was hassled.
It was in Montgomery, Alabama, that Rosa Parks was arrested for not offering her seat the bus to a white passenger. Immediately following the arrest, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. initiated a protest of transportation services on December 1st, 1955, in retaliation for injustice against racial minorities. Rather than using public transportation, African Americans walked or received rides and this boycott lasted 381 days and was extremely influential. As a result of a federal court ruling in June 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that laws enacted to segregate buses were unlawful. During the civil rights movement, the Montgomery bus boycott was one of the first significant movements that contributed to societal change.
On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks took action against segregation in support of her community’s civil rights in Montgomery, Alabama, with the spark of The Montgomery Bus Boycott beginning the following day. Many African Americans, including Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and the Montgomery Minister were all involved and leaders of the boycott. During this time, African Americans were segregated within public transportation, required to sit in the back of the bus and to give their seat to white people. Realizing how unacceptable the segregation system was after Rosa Parks’ arrest for simply sitting, many people in the community were inspired to take for African Americans’ rights to be equal to those of white people. Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat gave people an incentive to stand for their rights, further leading to the
Under the oppression of laws that legalized unfair segregation of race, many people like Rosa Parks and the Freedom Riders felt obligated to protest. One inspiring person was Rosa Parks who was arrested after refusing to give her seat up on a bus. The Montgomery Police Department stated in a document, “...the bus operator said he had a colored female sitting in the white section of the bus, and would not move back…… Rosa Parks was charged with Chapter 6 section 11 of the Montgomery City Code, (“An Act of Courage”). The defiance of Rosa Parks initiated a boycott of the Montgomery public bus system and caused Browder v. Gayle, a lawsuit trying to get rid of segregation on public buses in Montgomery.
Kaelyn Boyer CP American History Mr. Elders 28 April 2023 Rosa Parks and the Bus Boycott Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white passenger violating segregation laws. She was then arrested, taken to jail, and fined which led to several civil rights leaders organizing bus boycotts. Rosa Parks is widely known as the mother of the American civil rights movement. Her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus in 1955, was the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted for over a year. The boycott was a critical moment in the civil rights movement and eventually resulted in the desegregation of Montgomery’s public transportation.
Disobedience has always been a pesky human trait. It has led to the downfall of empires and the establishment of new ones. In his claim about disobedience, Oscar Wilde is correct because disobedience leads to positive changes that would not have occurred otherwise. One of the greatest examples of disobedience leading to social progress is the American Revolution.
Civil disobedience against unjust laws allows people to recognize the faults in our society and government. This is especially true when large numbers of people come together to protest for a certain cause, and against a law, they believe the government should not enforce. For example, Mahatma
Rosa Parks sparked the protest named the bus boycott that leads a big part of this dreadful time in history. After she got out of jail she went to MLK Jr. and did a speech that influenced 90 percent of blacks not ride the bus and made the government lose a lot of money. The bus boycott was originated in Montgomery and this happened on Dec 5, 1855, and ended on Dec 20, 1856. The reason why Rosa parks decided to not get off the bus until the cops came is that she was sick of having to move for
Rosa Parks’ actions would alter the dynamics of the Civil Rights Movement in ways that were previously unknown before. In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to the white passenger. This event became known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott because it caused an uproar in the community. It is important because the entire African American community in Montgomery, Alabama united behind Rosa Park and supported her by boycotting the bus system. African Americans chose to walk to work or car pool with each other rather than ride the bus.
Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" is a powerful and influential essay that advocates for peaceful resistance to unjust laws and government actions. Thoreau argued that individuals have a duty to resist and disobey unjust laws, even if it means facing punishment, in order to promote change in society. Thoreau's ideas on civil disobedience have inspired numerous individuals and movements throughout history, including the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, and the Women's Suffrage Movement. Today, civil disobedience remains an important tool for activists and protestors seeking to bring attention to injustices and effect change in society.
After Rosa parks refused to give her seat to white passenger and was arrested. The black people decided to launch a boycott. It denoted all of African Americans walked instead of riding a bus. The boycotters hoped the bus companies would lose money and be forced to abandon their segregation policy. After a year bus boycott, a unit state’s District Court ruling in Browder V. Gayle banned racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses.
Herbert J. Storing, an Associate Professor of Political Science, in “The Case Against Civil Disobedience,” writes, “One of the practical consequences of this institution [civil disobedience] is to divert disobedience and even revolution into the channel of law” (97). What Storing is saying is that civil disobedience will encourage people to break the laws and they will hide under civil disobedience to avoid the law. Also, civil disobedience might split society by creating disagreements with the people, and it could create a political instability. However, Storing fails to see that those who break an unjust law, as discussed above, do not avoid the law, in fact they show respect to the law as they willingly accept the consequences. By accepting the consequences, they show that they are not acting for their own interests but for society’s.
Unbenounced to her, Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat to a white man ignited one of the largest and most successful mass movements in opposition to racial segregation in history. At a time when African Americans experienced racial discrimination from the law and within their own communities on a daily basis, they saw a need for radical change and the Montgomery bus boycott helped push them closer to achieving this goal. Unfortunately, much of black history is already excluded from textbooks, therefore to exclude an event as revolutionary to the civil rights movement as this one would be depriving individuals of necessary knowledge. The Montgomery bus boycott, without a doubt, should be included in the new textbook because politically