dagblog - Comments for "Rosa Parks Centennial"

Essie Mae

rmrd0000 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 05:33:12 +0000

Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the daughter of the late Senator Strom Thurmond and his parent's 22-year-old unmarried black maid, died today at age 87. Williams, unlike Parks led a quiet life out of the mainstream. She was never publicly acknowledged in life by her father. She only came forward after her father's death at age 100 in 2003.

Washington-Williams' education was secretly paid by Strom Thurmond, a former segregationist. Washington-Williams earned a masters degree and was a Los Angeles teacher for decades. She joined the United Daughters of the Confederacy through Thurmond's lineage, and encouraged other African-American women to do the same. One supposes these would be other children resulting from similar liaisons.

The story of the private affection but public rejection that she felt from her father was told in her autobiography, "Dear Senator A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond", published in 2005.

One wonders if Parks and Washington- Williams ever crossed paths.

I grew up in Baltimore. Her

rmrd0000 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 04:27:56 +0000

In reply to Irene Morgan is of interest

I grew up in Baltimore. Her story was buried. It never came up in the classroom..

Thanks for the link. It is

rmrd0000 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 03:53:43 +0000

In reply to Superb piece. Thanks so much

Thanks for the link. It is said that Parks' personal effects may not be in the hands of scholars because of financial shenanigans. There is no way to measure how much history may be lost.

Superb piece. Thanks so much

Ramona — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 03:04:30 +0000

In reply to Rosa Parks Centennial

Superb piece. Thanks so much for sharing. It's a keeper!

I think Rosa Parks was chosen as the symbol for public transportation desegregation because the time was right, her story was current, and she looked like someone everyone could get behind.

I wrote about her here a while back, but didn't get into nearly as much research as you did. There was nothing easy about those days for blacks or for the whites who came out to support them. None of the stories are as simple as the inspirational vignettes they've become, but they all add up to a movement that was so remarkable, so horrific, and so successful we can't stop talking about it.

I personally can't get enough of these stories. As a white person growing up and living in and near Detroit I was vaguely aware of what was happening in the south but it wasn't until MLK and the Freedom Riders brought it to the forefront that we recognized how terrible it was. From then on it was only a matter of time. We couldn't let it go on, and, again, it was millions of voices raised that changed the course of history. Our leaders in Washington heard those voices and finally saw the benefits of forcing desegregation. They began legislating and enforcing fair treatment for an entire segment of our society that had done nothing more wrong than having been born with skin of a color.

Irene Morgan is of interest

Richard Day — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 03:01:09 +0000

In reply to Thanks. It started out as a

Irene Morgan is of interest to me. I know the case but just think, that in the 1940's anyone gave one goddamn and there was Thurgood!

Thanks. It started out as a

rmrd0000 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:44:39 +0000

In reply to THIS IS MARVELOUS! As if you

Thanks. It started out as a focus on the more activist side of Rosa Parks based on the "Rebellious Life" and quickly morphed into a tribute to those who resisted discrimination in public transportation focusing on the women. It also reminded me of the forgotten women who were plaintiffs in the court case. Getting the timeline helped keep things in perspective for me. America produces powerful people.

What is amazing to me is that Susan (Susie) MacDonald left a very small footprint compared to others in the case. I even went to Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham's "African American National Biography", an 8 volume set that I thought had "everybody" in the movement, but her name and brief biography were absent.

I couldn't put the "Rebellious Life" down. The author exposes us to a side of Rosa Parks not really address by Brinkley and not fully fleshed out in Parks' autobiography. Sadly much of what people learn about Rosa Parks comes in the form of children's books.

THIS IS MARVELOUS! As if you

Richard Day — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:49:22 +0000

In reply to Rosa Parks Centennial

THIS IS MARVELOUS!

As if you need it I hereby render unto you the Dayly Blog of the Day Award for this here Dagblog Site; given to all of you from all of me.

I just saw a C-SPAN discussion on Rosa. It seems here that Daddy was quite upset with the white class/caste system in the South (as if we did not experience the same system in the North only with some subtlety) and Rosa did not demur!

What a marvelous essay!

Thank you!

Yeah, King's antiwar stance

Aaron Carine — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:14:50 +0000

In reply to Rosa Parks Centennial

Yeah, King's antiwar stance and criticism of capitalism have kind of been played down.