Dramatic Photos. NO political comments.

[Jeff Vader]

Rosa Parks



Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement".

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks was not the first to resist bus segregation. Others had taken similar steps in the twentieth century, including Irene Morgan in 1946, Sarah Louise Keys in 1955, and Claudette Colvin nine months before Parks, but NAACP organizers believed that Parks was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience.

Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including Edgar Nixon, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, and Martin Luther King, Jr., a new minister in town who gained national prominence in the civil rights movement.
At the time, Parks was secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She had recently attended the Highlander Folk School, a Tennessee center for training activists for workers' rights and racial equality. She acted as a private citizen "tired of giving in". Although widely honored in later years, she also suffered for her act; she was fired from her job as a seamstress in a local department store. Eventually, she moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she briefly found similar work. From 1965 to 1988 she served as secretary and receptionist to John Conyers, an African-American U.S. Representative. After retirement, she wrote an autobiography and lived a largely private life in Detroit. In her final years she suffered from dementia. In 1999, a lawsuit was filed on her behalf against Outkast and LaFace Records due to their unauthorized use of her name in their 1998 song, "Rosa Parks".

Parks received national recognition, including the NAACP's 1979 Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Upon her death in 2005, she was the first woman and second non-U.S. government official granted the posthumous honor of lying in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.

Montgomery buses: law and prevailing customs

In 1900, Montgomery had passed a city ordinance (essentially only whites could vote) to segregate bus passengers by race. Conductors empowered to assign seats to achieve that goal. According to the law, no passengers would be required to move or give up their seat and stand if the bus was crowded and no other seats were available. Over time and by custom, however, Montgomery bus drivers adopted the practice of requiring black riders to move whenever there were no white-only seats left.

The first four rows of seats on each Montgomery bus were reserved for white people. Buses had "colored" sections for black people generally in the rear of the bus, although blacks comprised more than 75% of the ridership. The sections were not fixed but were determined by placement of a movable sign. Black people could sit in the middle rows until the white section filled; if more whites needed seats, blacks were to move to seats in the rear, stand, or, if there was no room, leave the bus. Black people could not sit across the aisle in the same row as white people. The driver could move the "colored" section sign, or remove it altogether. If white people were already sitting in the front, black people could board to pay the fare, but had to disembark and reenter through the rear door.
For years, the black community had complained that the situation was unfair. Parks said, "My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest...I did a lot of walking in Montgomery."

Her refusal to move
After working all day, Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus at around 6 p.m., Thursday, December 1, 1955, in downtown Montgomery. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks in the "colored" section. It was near the middle of the bus and directly behind the ten seats reserved for white passengers. Initially, she did not notice that the bus driver was the same man, James F. Blake, who had left her in the rain in 1943. As the bus traveled along its regular route, all of the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white passengers boarded.

Following prevailing practice, Blake noted that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers, with two or three standing. He moved the "colored" section sign behind Parks and demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks said, "When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

By Parks' account, Blake said, "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." Three of them complied. Parks said, "The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't." The black man sitting next to her gave up his seat.

Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she did not get up to move to the newly repositioned colored section. Blake said,
"Why don't you stand up?" Parks responded, "I don't think I should have to stand up." Blake called the police to arrest Parks. When recalling the incident for Eyes on the Prize, a 1987 public television series on the Civil Rights Movement, Parks said, "When he saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up, and I said, 'No, I'm not.' And he said, 'Well, if you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police and have you arrested.' I said, 'You may do that.'"

During a 1956 radio interview with Sydney Rogers in West Oakland several months after her arrest, when asked about her decision, Parks said, "I would have to know for once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen."

She also described her motivation in her autobiography, My Story:
People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, "Why do you push us around?" The officer's response as she remembered it was, "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest." She later said, "I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind..."

Parks was charged with a violation of Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code, even though she technically had not taken up a white-only seat—she had been in a colored section. Edgar Nixon, president of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and leader of the Pullman Union, and her friend Clifford Durr bailed Parks out of jail the evening of December 2.

Montgomery Bus Boycott
That evening, Nixon conferred with Jo Ann Robinson, an Alabama State College professor and member of the Women's Political Council (WPC), about the Parks' case. Robinson felt this was an opportunity to seize and stayed up all night mimeographing over 35,000 handbills announcing a bus boycott. The Women's Political Council was the first group to officially endorse the boycott.

On Sunday, December 4, 1955, plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott were announced at black churches in the area, and a front-page article in The Montgomery Advertiser helped spread the word. At a church rally that night, those attending agreed unanimously to continue the boycott until they were treated with the level of courtesy they expected, until black drivers were hired, and until seating in the middle of the bus was handled on a first-come basis.

Four days later, Parks was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance. The trial lasted 30 minutes. After being found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs, Parks appealed her conviction and formally challenged the legality of racial segregation. In a 1992 interview with National Public Radio's Lynn Neary, Parks recalled:
I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time... there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.

On the day of Parks' trial — Monday, December 5, 1955 — the WPC distributed the 35,000 leaflets. The handbill read,
"We are...asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial ... You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday."
It rained that day, but the black community persevered in their boycott. Some rode in carpools, while others traveled in black-operated cabs that charged the same fare as the bus, 10 cents. Most of the remainder of the 40,000 black commuters walked, some as far as 20 miles (30 km).

On Monday, December 5, 1955, after the success of the one-day boycott, a group of 16 to 18 people gathered at the Mt. Zion AME Zion Church to discuss boycott strategies. The group agreed that a new organization was needed to lead the boycott effort if it were to continue. Rev. Ralph David Abernathy suggested the name "Montgomery Improvement Association" (MIA). The name was adopted, and the MIA was formed. Its members elected as their president Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a relative newcomer to Montgomery who was a young and mostly unknown minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

That Monday night, 50 leaders of the African-American community gathered to discuss actions to be taken in response to Parks' arrest. Edgar Nixon, the president of the NAACP, said, "My God, look what segregation has put in my hands!" Parks was the ideal plaintiff for a test case against city and state segregation laws, as she was a responsible, mature woman with an excellent reputation. King said that Mrs. Parks was regarded as "one of the finest citizens of Montgomery—not one of the finest Negro citizens, but one of the finest citizens of Montgomery." Parks was securely married and employed, possessed a quiet and dignified demeanor, and was politically savvy.

In the end, black residents of Montgomery continued the boycott for 381 days, at considerable personal sacrifice. Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company's finances, until the city repealed its law requiring segregation on public buses following the US Supreme Court ruling that it was unconstitutional.

Parks played an important part in raising international awareness of the plight of African Americans and the civil rights struggle. King wrote in his 1958 book Stride Toward Freedom that Parks' arrest was the catalyst rather than the cause of the protest: "The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices." He wrote, "Actually, no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'"


Pressure increased across the country and on June 4, 1956, the federal district court ruled that Alabama's racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional. However, an appeal kept the segregation intact, and the boycott continued. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling, leading to a city ordinance that allowed black bus passengers to sit virtually anywhere they wanted. The boycott officially ended December 20, 1956, after 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott resounded far beyond the desegregation of public buses; it stimulated the national civil rights movement and launched King into the national spotlight as a leader.

[Jeff Vader]

Breaching behaviour

A breach is the result of a high speed approach to the surface with the resulting momentum taking the shark partially or completely clear of the water. This is a hunting technique employed by great white sharks whilst hunting seals. This behavior often takes place on cape fur seals at Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa but due to the randomness of the location of a sharks breach it was very hard to document. It was first photographed by Chris Fallows and Rob Lawrence who developed the technique of towing a slow moving seal decoy to trick the sharks to breach. Here, in the region of 600 natural predatory events are recorded annually between April and September each year.

The seals swim on the surface and the great white sharks launch their predatory attack from the deeper water below. They can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour and can at times launch themselves more than 10 feet in the air. Data recorded shows that the sharks are successful in just under 50% of all these natural predatory events.

[kenveco68]

"World's Highest Standard Of Living"



A photo taken by Margaret Bourke-White of a bread line during the Louisville flood in Kentucky in 1937.

[Eric Cartman]

Originally Posted by tygrkhat40

On July 16, 1969, Astronauts Neil Armstrong, the mission commander; Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Lunar Module pilot and Michael Collins, Command Module pilot took off from the Kennedy Space Center aboard a Saturn V rocket that launched them to the first lunar landing in history.

I hope you don't mind my adding a little bit to tygrkhat40's post. I have, since seeing the Apollo 11 rocket just a month before being launched, been fascinated by the Apollo Project.

Neil Armstrong grew up an hour north of me in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Here is a story about something he supposedly said after setting foot on the surface of the moon.

When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" statement but followed it by several remarks, usual communication traffic between him, the other astronauts and Mission Control. Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made this remark "Good luck Mr. Gorsky."

Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the "Good luck Mr. Gorsky" statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.

On July 5, 1995 in Tampa Bay FL, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.

When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in the front of his neighbor's bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. & Mrs. Gorsky.

As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs.Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. "Sex! You want sex?! You'll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"

Untrue but entertaining I think.

Here is a favorite quote by Armstrong which is true. When asked what sort of exercise he did to prepare for a walk on the moon, he replied:

"I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises."

[squigg58]

In early April 1945, the US Fast Carrier Task Force which was supporting the amphibious landings on Okinawa, came under attack from Japanese Kamikaze aircraft.

Based on intelligence gleaned from a surviving Kamikaze pilot who'd bailed out of his aircraft on the 6th, the US Commanders expected the Japanese to mount a major attack on the 11th. Consequently, CAP (combat air patrol) coverage was increased to intercept the Kamikazes before they reached the task force. At 1.30pm, a large force of Japanese aircraft was detected by radar. At 2.00pm the general alarm sounded, and the gunnery officer on board the cruiser USS Astoria told his men: "Some 40 enemy planes have just succeeded in getting through the CAP and are coming in on the fleet. Settle down, this looks as if it might be it."

It was.

In the resulting battle, the majority of Kamikazes were brought down by anti-aircraft fire, but some got through causing damage to several ships. At 2.43pm, one of the most famous Pacific War photos was taken by Seamen Len Schmidt. A Mitsubishi A6M Zero of the Japanese Special Attack Corps Kikusui No. 2, piloted by 19-year old IJN Petty Officer 2nd Class Setsuo Ishino, flew in low and struck the battleship Missouri on her starboard quarter. The Zero broke apart, throwing debris, and the pilot's body, onto the deck of the Missouri. After the battle, Ishino's body was wrapped in a makeshift Japanese flag, and was formally committed to the deep.

[MaxJoker]

A bloodied beaten citizen of what was once the sovereign state of Spain



Who`s only crime was deciding maybe she should join a peaceful protest over the fact thanks to the bonus driven actions of several hundred corrupt soulless sociopathic bankers , and the disregard of her self obsessed elected officials , she , her family and countless other innocent honest hard working millions are to be condemned to struggle everyday for the rest of their lives , simply to survive.

Yeah and why ?

What does she owe , who do they owe , what do WE owe

Fuck all

That`s what

[9876543210]

MaxJoker,

Originally Posted by MaxJoker

[B][COLOR="Indigo"]A bloodied beaten citizen of what was once the sovereign state of Spain

Is that recent? Haven't seen it before.

[MaxJoker]

Originally Posted by 9876543210

MaxJoker,
Is that recent? Haven't seen it before.

A few days ago

Not that it or the continued protests have been reported in the " Mainstream" media

Just as the vicious crack downs in Saudi Arabia (Etc etc) haven`t either , or the many awful multiple resulting deaths

But then those self appointed oil soaked royal dictators are fully paid up members of the American governments imperial policies , so why should they ever be criticised simply for killing their own majority oppressed masses. No let`s instead all focus on boo hiss Syria , and a civil war that was manufactured , funded and supplied by the most amoral middle eastern dictatorships ever , who still dare to talk of becoming involved merely due to their desire in supporting democracy

[9876543210]

MaxJoker,

Originally Posted by MaxJoker

[B][COLOR="Indigo"]
A few days ago

Not that it or the continued protests have been reported in the " Mainstream" media

OK and, yup, heard absolutely nothing about it. Our great media outlets are sure doing a good job of letting us know what of importance is happening out there in the world. Oh, wait, there's new news about Katie and Tom!

At least some people elsewhere in the world are beginning to wake up to the fact of how badly we've been sold down the river. Will people in the US? Unlikely anytime soon.

[Joszka]

1968, Mexico Olympics.
Tommie Smiths (center), John Carlos (right) and Australian Peter Norman.
More here.

Times are changing..