News Tip: Rosa Parks Remembered by Duke Historians John Hope Franklin, Charles Payne

Rosa Parks, who died Monday, is best known for the single moment in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man, but she had prepared for years for just such an opportunity, said Duke University professor Charles Payne.

"Rosa Parks didn't just happen to stumble into a great historical moment," said Payne, director of Duke's African-American studies program. "In fact, she had a long history as an activist."

Parks had been an active member of the NAACP since the early 1940s, becoming the organization's state secretary and running its Montgomery youth chapter, said Payne, a professor of history, sociology and African-American studies. By 1946, she had registered to vote and later she participated in social activism training sessions put on by the Tennessee-based Highlander Institute, he said.

"This was all unusual stuff for black folks in the South at the time," said Payne, author of books on the Civil Rights movement, including "I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement," "Debating the Civil Rights Movement" and "Time Longer than Rope."

In fact, during the 10 years leading up to the famous Montgomery bus incident, Parks had refused to give up her bus seat enough times that some bus drivers refused to pick her up, Payne said.

"We tend see the Civil Rights movement in terms of its high points, but it actually came about by a lot of persistence from a lot of people," he said. "Rosa Parks' life is an example of that."

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Esteemed historian emeritus John Hope Franklin issued the following statement about Parks' death:

"The passing of Rosa Parks is really and truly the end of an era marked by the remarkable contributions that she made to the Civil Rights movement. She placed it on a new and unique level by her heroism and her determination to stand up, not merely for herself, not merely for all women, not merely for African Americans, but for all Americans in demanding equality of treatment.

"It's very important that we recognize that timing was important. The Civil Rights movement was at the point where it needed something dramatic like this to capture the imagination and demand the attention of all Americans.

"She did this with the simple gesture of refusing to stand up and give her seat to a white man - “ not because she was a woman or a lady, but she was a human being. By taking that seat and holding on to that seat, she made the statement that she was as good as anybody on that bus, and that a human being is a human being regardless of color or previous condition of servitude. She taught us what equality was, what courage was, and what the standard could be in this country for all people."

Franklin is the author of the classic book "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans;" has won dozens of awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and, in 1997, chaired President Bill Clinton's Initiative on Race. His autobiography, "Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin," was recently published.

In addition to his work as a historian, Franklin was involved in some key events of the Civil Rights movement. As an expert on Southern history, he was recruited by NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall in 1953 to help prepare the brief in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1965, he accompanied King on the march from Selma to Montgomery.

Franklin said he did not meet Parks during the Civil Rights era, but became acquainted with her in later years. They met for the last time in 1998, when Franklin delivered the report from the Initiative on Race to President Clinton, he said.