The Politics of Children’s Literature What’s Wrong with the Rosa Parks Myth By HerBert KoHl Issues of racIsm and direct confrontation the two names that most children associate between African American and European Ameri- with the Civil Rights Movement, the other can people in the United States are usually being Martin Luther King Jr. The image of considered too sensitive to be dealt with directly “Rosa Parks the Tired” exists on the level of in the elementary school classroom. When Afri- a national cultural icon. Dozens of children’s can Americans and European Americans are books and textbooks present the same version involved in confrontation in children’s texts, of what might be called “Rosa Parks and the the situation is routinely described as a problem Montgomery Bus Boycott.” This version can be between individuals that can be worked out on synthesized as follows: a personal basis. In the few cases where racism is addressed as a social problem, there has to be Rosa Parks was a poor seamstress. She lived a happy ending. in Montgomery, Ala., during the 1950s. This is most readily apparent in the bio- In those days there was still segregation in graphical treatment of Rosa Parks, one of parts of the United States. That meant that Associated Press Associated African Americans walk to work during the first days of the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. The Politics of Children’s Literature—Zinn Education Project 1 African Americans and European Ameri- Correcting the Myth cans were not allowed to use the same public facilities such as restaurants or swimming 1. Rosa Parks was a poor, tired seamstress. pools. It also meant that whenever the city She lived in Montgomery, Ala., during the buses were crowded, African Americans had 1950s. Rosa Parks was one of the first women to give up seats in front to European Ameri- in Montgomery to join the National Associa- cans and move to the back of the bus. tion for the Advancement of Colored People and was its secretary for years. At the NAACP One day on her way home from work Rosa she worked with chapter president E.D. was tired and sat down in the front of the Nixon, who was also vice president of the bus. As the bus got crowded she was asked Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Parks to give up her seat to a European American learned about union struggles from him. She man, and she refused. The bus driver told also worked with the youth division of the her she had to go to the back of the bus, and NAACP, and she took a youth NAACP group she still refused to move. It was a hot day, to visit the Freedom Train when it came to she was tired and angry, and she became Montgomery in 1954. The train, which car- very stubborn. ried the originals of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, was The driver called a policeman, who arrested traveling around the United States promoting Rosa. When other African Americans in the virtues of democracy. Since its visit was Montgomery heard this, they became angry a federal project, access to the exhibits could too, so they decided to refuse to ride the not be segregated. Parks took advantage of buses until everyone was allowed to ride that fact to visit the train. There, she and the together. They boycotted the buses. The members of the youth group mingled freely boycott, which was led by Martin Luther with European Americans who were also King Jr., succeeded. Now African Americans looking at the documents. This overt act of and European Americans can ride the buses crossing the boundaries of segregation did together in Montgomery. Rosa Parks was a not endear Parks to the Montgomery political very brave person. and social establishment. Parks’ work as a seamstress in a large This story seems innocent enough. Rosa department store was secondary to her com- Parks is treated with respect, and the African munity work. In addition, as she says in an American community is given credit for run- interview in My Soul Is Rested, she had almost ning the boycott and winning the struggle. a life history of “being rebellious against On closer examination, however, this version being mistreated because of my color.” She reveals some distressing characteristics that was well known to African American leaders serve to turn a carefully planned movement in Montgomery for her opposition to segre- for social change into a spontaneous outburst gation, her leadership abilities, and her moral based upon frustration and anger. The following strength. Since the 1954 Brown v. Board of annotations on the previous summary suggest Education decision, she had been working that we need a new story, one not only more in to desegregate the Montgomery schools. She line with the truth but one that shows the orga- had also attended an interracial meeting at nizational skills and determination of the Afri- the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee a can American community in Montgomery and few months before the boycott. Highlander the role of the bus boycott in the larger struggle was known throughout the South as a radi- to desegregate Montgomery and the South. cal education center that was overtly plan- ning for the total desegregation of the South. The Politics of Children’s Literature—Zinn Education Project 2 At that meeting, which dealt with plans for of the African American educators felt that school desegregation, Parks indicated that young children do not need to be exposed to she intended to participate in other attempts the violent history of segregation. They wor- to break down the barriers ried about the effects such expo- of segregation. To call Rosa sure would have on race relations Parks a poor tired seamstress To call Rosa Parks in their classrooms and especially and not talk about her role a poor tired about provoking rage on the part as a community leader is to of African American students. turn an organized struggle seamstress and The other educators felt that, for freedom into a personal not talk about her given the resurgence of overt rac- act of frustration. It is a role as a community ism in the United States, allowing thorough misrepresentation rage and anger to come out was of the Civil Rights Move- leader is to turn the only way African American ment in Montgomery and an an organized struggle and European American children insult to Parks as well. for freedom into could work toward a common life. They felt that conflict was a 2. In those days there was still a personal act of segregation in parts of the positive thing that could be heal- United States. That meant frustration. ing when confronted directly and that African Americans and that avoiding the horrors of rac- European Americans were ism was just another way of per- not allowed to use the same public facili- petuating them. I agree with this ties. The existence of legalized segregation in second group. the South during the 1950s is integral to the 3. Whenever the city buses were crowded, story of the Montgomery bus boycott, yet it African Americans had to give up seats in is an embarrassment to many school people front to European Americans and move to and difficult to explain to children without the back of the bus. Actually, African Ameri- accounting for the moral corruption of the cans were never allowed to sit in the front of majority of the European American com- the bus in the South in those days. The front munity in the South. Locating segregation in seats were reserved for European Americans. the past is a way of avoiding dealing with its Between five and ten rows back, the “col- current manifestations and implying that rac- ored” section began. When the front filled ism is no longer a major problem. Describ- up, African Americans seated in the “col- ing segregation passively (“There was still ored” section had to give up their seats and segregation” instead of “European Americans move toward the back of the bus. Thus, for segregated facilities so that African Americans example, an elderly African American would couldn’t use them”) also ignores the issue of have to give up his or her seat to a Euro- legalized segregation, even though Parks was pean American teenager at the peril of being arrested for a violation of the Alabama law arrested. that required segregation in public facilities. 4. One day on her way home from work Rosa It doesn’t talk overtly about racism. And it was tired and sat down in the front of the refers to “parts” of the United States, soften- bus. Parks did not sit in the front of the bus. ing the tone and muddying the reference to She sat in the front row of the “colored” sec- the South. I’ve raised the question of how to tion. When the bus got crowded she refused expose children to the reality of segregation to give up her seat in the “colored” section and racism to a number of educators, both to a European American. It is important to African American and European American. point this out as it indicates quite clearly Most of the European American and a few that it was not her intent, initially, to break The Politics of Children’s Literature—Zinn Education Project 3 the segregation laws. At this point the story was placed under arrest. See, if I had just been lapses into the familiar and refers to Rosa evicted from the bus and he hadn’t placed Parks as “Rosa.” The question of whether to me under arrest or had any charges brought use the first name for historical characters in against me, it probably could have been just a factual story is complicated.