Rosa Parks on the Bus

I have been travelling in a fair few of buses while I'm here. The transport system is okay - not as great as Melbourne but better in some degrees. Nevertheless I am extremely grateful that it exists! And more appreciative of the Australian transport system for what it offers. Here it's mainly buses and trains: buses in the burbs' and trains to the city (not taking into account the many generous car rides I've had from my own community here (and it's car rides not lifts here - otherwise they think they have to physically lift you up - which no one has tried to do - thankfully!)

On one of my first buses I was intrigued to find a plaque dedicated to Rosa Parks  'a quiet person of principle' who took a seat on a bus in 1955  and refused to give her seat to a white man. It's the 60th anniversary of this historic act and her plaques are in many of the buses I ride in Montgomery County, Maryland. Rosa's simple, profound and courageous act created a enormous ripple effect started the boycott of Montgomery city buses in Alabama by African Americans eventually leading to the end of segregation on buses and in other public domains in the USA. In short Rosa Parks was a central player in the American civil rights movement. I visited a home recently of a black family and her photo adorns their living room. Lest we forget. Here is a picture of the plaque - some local buses and a metro station and the longest escalator I've ever seen!