"One element of imperial history is that events tend to be seen as caused by extraordinary personalities acting on one another without showing us the social roots and contexts of those actions. For example, many of the great discoveries and inventions we are taught about in elementary and high school were being pursued by many people at once, but the individual who received the patent is described as a lone explorer rather than part of a group effort. Rosa Parks didn't "get tired" one day and start the Montgomery bus boycott. She was a trained organizer, and her role, as well as the time and place of the boycott, was the result of careful planning by a group of civil rights activists. Just as medicinal history must restore individuality to anonymous masses of people, it must also restore social context to individuals singled out as the actors of history."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Spiritual teachersCivil rights activistsPeople from AlabamaMethodists from the United States20th-century African-American women
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Aurora Levins Morales Medicine Stories: Essays for Radicals (2019 edition)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American [[w:civil ri
21 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Rosa Parks →
Related Quotes
"I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't th…"
"God has always given me the strength to say what is right... I had the strength of God and my ancestors with me."
"From my upbringing and the Bible I learned people should stand up for rights just as the children of Israel stood up …"
"I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all p…"
"People always said that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically…"
"I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time... the…"
"Thank you very much. I honor my late husband Raymond Parks, other Freedom Fighters, men of goodwill who could not be …"
"I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home."
"I'd see the bus pass every day... But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the cust…"
"We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember g…"