Before Rosa Parks there was Irene Morgan. Actually, there was Mary Louise Smith and Claudette Colvin too. Miss Morgan displayed courage a full 11 years (1944), in Virginia, before Mrs. Parks. Miss Colvin expressed her humanity 9 months before Mrs. Parks' 1955 act. Miss Smith expressed herself in October 1955, two months before Parks. At that rate, there were probably a slew more being civilly disobedient.
The earlier women set the groundwork for when Rosa Parks would stand her ground. In any case, all four women declared enough was enough on their particular day in history.
I can imagine. Sometimes, you just gotta say "Eff it! Bring it on!" and let the cow chips fall where they will.
Irene Morgan Kirkaldy
Claudette Colvin
Mary Louise Smith
Rosa Parks
Side note: The NAACP though involved with legal support in all the cases, made Mrs. Parks' bid the one for the history books. Some say she was chosen to carry the banner because she fit the "respectability politics" profile the organization was striving for in that era. Yanno, the whole "show the country we are just like them. just a different color" route. Rosa was older, married, childless and wed to a card-carrying member of the NAACP. Miss Colvin was 15, pregnant and unwed.at the time of her incident. I do not know what the situation was about Miss Morgan. She was 27 when she was harassed on the bus she was riding. Sources say she had two kids and had married twice in her life but I do not know what her status was at the time of her arrest. Seems the NAACP went with the sure thing theory. It worked.
Whatevs. I applaud these women.
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