By Tricia Hall
The Truth Reporter
Mott Branch Library, located in the heart of Dorr Street, celebrated the memory and birth of Rosa Parks on Saturday, February 4. Youth and their families were invited to participate in story time and complete hands on crafts.
Toledo Lucas County Public Library Youth Services Librarian, Andrea Sanford in collaboration with TARTA and Toledo NAACP organized the day-long festivities. Youth and their families enjoyed listening to the Jo S. Kittinger book, The Ride to Civil Rights, and creating their own interactive map that includes traffic signals and vehicles.
“The partners and I wanted to bring to life the how and why, which led to Rosa Parks sitting on the bus that day. I chose that book because Rosa truly started the civil rights movement,” said Sanford.
Library patrons can visit the library’s website for additional information about Rosa Parks, including her visit to Toledo.
“It’s important that our kids continue to hear the story about Ms. Parks. Some of us lived through those moments in history while the youth today should understand why they have more rights today,” said Shavon Johnson.
According to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for failing to give her seat to a white Montgomery citizen on the city bus, which at that time in history was illegal. The arrest of Ms. Parks, Claudette Colvin (Austin) and other Blacks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott.
According to History.com, the boycott lasted 381 days when the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle that the segregated bus system illegal.
The Henry Ford museum is located in Michigan and is home to Montgomery bus #2857. The bus is believed to be the bus in which Rosa Parks was arrested. There is also another museum named in honor of Rosa Parks located at Troy University, the site where Rosa was arrested prior to the Montgomery boycott.
Rosa Parks Day was first created and acknowledged by the Michigan State Legislature in 1998. In addition to Michigan, seven other states, Ohio, California, Missouri, Alabama, Oregon, Texas and Tennessee celebrate Rosa Parks Day on a statewide level. February 4 is designated as Rosa Parks Day, because she was born on February 4.