A journey through African American History: Martin Luther King, Jr. & Rosa Parks

By Adamaris Agard, Clarion Staff reporter

A flyer for a "mass meeting" of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), featuring Rosa Parks. Parks and others who disobeyed segregation rules became role models for similar "civil disobedience" in the face of segregated society -- and still are today. Photo Credit: Library of Congress

Ever wondered why Black History Month is in February? Well, the birthdays of two abolitionist movement figures -- Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass -- both fall on this month.

Black History Month is a special month to many black people, and serves as a time to celebrate and recognize the achievements and contributions of black people through history. There are a ton of special, important people who made a huge impact on today’s society, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks. Here, let me educate you if you don't know who and what these two did.

With his Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. King led many non-violent demonstrations throughout the southern U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s. He led most of these marches and protests based on voting rights, desegregation, and labor rights. He also gave a fantastic speech (“I have a Dream”) during the March on Washington in 1963, which inspired a lot of people. His legacy and works are preserved in American culture through organizations such as the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Martin Luther King's legacy lives on. This year, the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, launched "Rethink: The Special Series" with Microsoft.

Rosa Parks -- “The mother of the civil rights movement” -- is famous to this day for refusing to give up her seat on the bus for a white man in 1955, which led to her arrest. This started the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in which 17,000 black citizens participated. This woman serves as a symbol of courage and resistance, and her legacy is also kept alive in our nation's culture and history, including in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

A video overview of the Rosa Parks Collection from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH TO THOSE WHO IT APPLIES TO!