Rosa Parks and the Response of the NAACP

 (Photograph - Mother Jones "Rosa Parks Didn't Act Alone: Meet Claudette Colvin)

Following the arrest of Claudette Colvin, the NAACP wanted to organize a bus boycott. However, the NAACP was skeptical about having a teenager as the face of the movement (Abdulaleem, p. 2). Shortly after her arrest, Colvin became pregnant and the NAACP knew that a pregnant teenager would never earn the respect that they needed for their movement. It is also thought that because Colvin had dark skin it would be harder for white people to sympathize with her (Abdulaleem, p. 2). The NAACP decided that Rosa Parks would be seen as a respectable black woman if she were to be the poster child for desegregating buses. In December 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. The NAACP was able to rally support for Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott followed (Younge, p. 1).

Works Cited
Younge, Gary. "She Would Not Be Moved." The Guardian 16 Dec. 2000. Print.
 Abdulaleem, Maryam. "Before There Was Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin." The New York Amsterdam News 2009. Print.
 Mechanic, Michael. "Rosa Parks Didn't Act Alone: Meet Claudette Colvin." Mother Jones. 20 Jan. 2009. Web. <http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/01/rosa-parks-didnt-act-alone-meet-claudette-colvin>.