nces In an interview I found on the internet Rosa stated that her main influences in life were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., her mother, her grandparents, and societys youth. However, after doing research it became obvious to me that her greatest influence, leading up to Dec. 1 of 1955 was society. Rosa was educated and, like everyone else, exposed to the daily hardships that black Americans faced. It is easy to understand how living in such hardship would have an influence on anyone, but Rosa handled this hardship differently than most. Rather than concealing her views that blacks were treated unfairly and letting them manifest into feelings of hatred or acts of violence, she simply stood up for her belief that everyone should be treated equally. Of course most black Americans that were raised during the same time that Rosa was felt the same way she did, and others were also arrested for refusing to give up their seats on the bus, but unlike Rosa they werent as actively involved in fight for equality as Rosa was. As mentioned before, Rosa was a member of the NAACP and the group saw this incident as a window of opportunity to bring more attention to the issue of segregation. Being involved in a group with a certain goal will no doubt make a person feel stronger and fight harder for something. Rosa knew that she was not the only one who felt as though blacks were treated unfairly. She was educated and understood that nothing would change until people came together to make a statement. Many people, myself included, were taught that Rosa Parks was just a tired seamstress who didnt want to give up her seat, but as she wrote in Rosa Parks: My Story, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. The people that she had personal relationships with definitely influenced her to be such a strong, motivated person, but only inner strength and self-determination could lead her to challenge societys major downfall which i...
