The girl sat waiting, patient and dignified.
White boys had tried to rape her, but had succeeded only in beating her severely. Her parents, knowing the police wouldn’t help, called the NAACP to seek justice. When the investigator arrived, it was Rosa Parks! Why was SHE there?
When Parks was a teenager working as a maid, her employer sexually harassed her continuously. He would proposition her for sex every chance he could. She was able to resist his abuse, but the experience always stayed with her. How did this experience inform her work?
Before she became the face of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Parks helped our people seek justice by helping investigate sexual assaults as secretary of the NAACP. There was even one case that almost got her killed!
The Recy Taylor case gained national attention. Taylor, a young wife and mother, accused a group of white men of raping her, and Parks handled her case. She refused to be afraid of white terrorists intent on keeping Taylor from reporting what happened! Each time they ran her out of town, she returned.
Parks used her trauma as motivation to help our people through some of their hardest and most frightening times. She helped them maintain self-respect in the face of oppression. How can you show support to someone enduring oppression today?