Rosa Parks has gone on to become a prominent figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. She has become known as the African-American woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus. However, there was much more to her life than that one lone incident. The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks by Jeane Theoharis looks into that life and highlights all the important events that have made Parks an American icon. Some of the events and achievements in Parks' life are not as commonly known as her famed bus incident, which usually takes center stage in any conversation in which her name is mentioned. Theoharis is a political science professor who is not shy when it comes to her view of Parks as one of the more important people of the twentieth century.
Once the author finishes gushing over Parks in the introduction, there is a true introduction to the woman Rosa Parks.
It introduces the woman Parks had come to be before her famous incident on the bus in 1955. However, she was not rebellious in a traditional sense of the word. She was simply exposed to many different forms of racism as a youth and also came across her share of motivated black people who were influential in her upbringing. Segregation was very prominent in her life as Parks often wondered 'what it would be like to drink the water reserved for whites.' There was a curiosity about her despite the extreme prejudice of the time. Faith also served as a strong motivating force in her life. She was an avid reader and did not shy away from racist texts which would go on to serve as an eye-opening wake up call as to how black...