The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: The Television Documentary

 

THE REBELLIOUS LIFE OF 

MRS. ROSA PARKS

The popular image of Mrs. Rosa Parks is that of a demure, respectable middle-aged seamstress who, after a long day of work, decided that she would not move from her bus seat to the back of the bus so that a white man could sit where she was at. That image is not entirely true, for Mrs. Parks had long been active in the civil rights movement and not a random citizen. While not exactly spontaneous, this act of civil disobedience was not preplanned either. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks reveals someone who was far more than the popular image. Radical, sometimes surprisingly prejudiced herself, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks blends past and present in sometimes cumbersome ways.

Rosa McCauley grew up with strong antipathy towards mistreatment of any kind due to her black heritage. Even though she had white ancestry herself with her grandfather being light-skinned due to being biracial, Rosa harbored deep animosity towards whites. It was so strong that she initially rejected Raymond Parks because of his own light skin, finding him too white looking. However, Mr. Parks had two things in his favor: extensive social activism work and a car.

The Parks soon found themselves part of the NAACP, where Rosa was the secretary despite her hesitation. Her activism and knowledge grew. She also found a new world when she attended the Highlander Folk School for more training on combating segregation. Here, she found that not all white people were awful. Then came December 1, 1955.

From that one moment of defiance cascaded a series of events that would change the nation. One can make a trail from Mrs. Parks' arrest and the Montgomery bus boycott down to the eventual fall of Jim Crow legislation barring blacks from full citizenship. That, however, was not the end of the story for "Mother Parks". She supported radical causes such as the Republic of New Afrika, a black separatist movement that wanted both reparations and a separate nation made up of U.S. territory. 

On the personal side, the stress of the bus boycott played havoc with the Parks' finances and safety. Opting to join the Great Migration, they resettled in Detroit where she continued to balance attempting to support herself and her family with various honors and tributes. There were terrible moments, such as when a young black man broke into her home and assaulted her. There were also moments of triumph, such as when she was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal. The ultimate honors came postmortem, when she lay in honor in the Capitol rotunda and when a statue of her was placed in Statuary Hall.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks is in keeping with how Parks was in life: unapologetic and militant. One of the interviewees referred to the 1967 Detroit riots as "the Detroit Rebellion of 1967". Other interviewees were quick to add that we have new voter suppression laws according to them. Directors Johanna Hamilton and Yoruba Richen have a firm viewpoint.

I however wonder if other, less positive aspects were papered over. Parks had a perhaps understandable animosity towards whites in her early to middle years. However, that little mention is made on how her initial rejection of Raymond Parks was based on his color is surprising. We do learn that Claudette Colvin, a teenager who similarly refused to give up her seat, was rejected as the test case because she was deemed too dark-skinned to be a sympathetic defendant. Mrs. Parks, with lighter complexion, was seen as a better fit. 

It is terrible but sadly a sign of those times that Colvin's skin color was a factor in the local NAACP's decision to wait for another test case. However, that Parks found a man initially unsuitable because of his own skin color is to my mind distressing. We also have footage of her stating that after interacting with white liberal activist Virginia Durr, she found that not all white people were bad. I was reminded of when Malcolm X had a similar revelation when performing hajj, finding white Muslims who embraced him as a brother. 

There are other revelations in The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks that are more disheartening. In the 1963 March on Washington for example, women were essentially excluded. Daisy Bates, who was instrumental in organizing the integration of Little Rock High School, was the only female speaker and that speech was very brief. A. Philip Randolph, a prominent civil rights activist and labor organizer, had Mrs. Parks wave to the crowd. The local NAACP also essentially shafted the Parks by providing no funds despite the immense financial boon they got from them and the Parks' hard economic situation.

As a side note, that the Parks struggled financially all their lives post-boycott while the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have reaped a lavish lifestyle is not touched on. Granted, the current BLM movement was not the subject of the documentary. However, as the subject of how the civil rights leadership gladly used the Parks to get publicity and funds but balked at so much as helping the Parks themselves was raised, it would have made for an interesting comparison. 

We do get some fascinating bits of information about Rosa Parks. Her brother Sylvester was once taunted as a child by a white child, but Rosa, who was with Sylvester, had either the courage or the temerity to threaten that child. She said that she would rather be lynched than accept mockery for being black, a courageous stand.   

There were some elements that brought the documentary down. LisaGay Hamilton narrates Mrs. Parks' words, and her narration was fine. I did, however, wonder why she was billed I think almost if not every time Parks' words were used. I do not understand why we needed constant reminders on who was reciting Mrs. Parks' words. Up to a point I can see why, but Hamilton did not sound like Mrs. Parks, and I think once or twice would have worked just fine.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks does not shatter the image of this lone, courageous woman who took a great stand by remaining seated. It does give us a more complex portrait of the icon, where her radical beliefs run counter to the image of a sweet little old lady. These revelations neither detract nor diminish her extraordinary act. They do put them in the context of her life experiences up to December 1, 1955. Mrs. Rosa Parks was more than one day, one bus ride. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks gives us more of her story, shining a light on the full range of her beliefs. 

5/10