Tierra Blanca News - October 2006

The Script
Reader 1 (Mario)	On December 1, 1955, 43 year old Rosa Parks got on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus after she got off work.  She paid her fare at the front of the bus, got off, then got back on at the back of the bus.  This was what all black patrons had to do.
Reader 2 (Diana)	After the bus made a few stops, the bus became very crowded.  A white man got on and was standing in the isle.  The bus driver came back and asked Rosa and 3 more black patrons to let the white man have their seats.
Bus Driver (Manuel)	You must move so t his man can sit down.
Reader 3 (Marisol)	As the patrons began to move out of their seats, Rosa remained in her seat.  The bus driver again asked her to move.
Bus Driver (Manuel)	You must move.
Reader 3 (Marisol)	Rosa refused to give up her seat.  The bus driver called the police, and Rosa was arrested.
Policeman (Jose)	You are under arrest.
Policeman (Josue)	You must come with us.
Reader 4 (Martha)	The arrest of Rosa Parks started a bus boycott by black people in the city of Montgomery.  The boycott began on December 5th.  Martin Luther King helped plan the boycott.  On that cold morning, people watched as bus after bus came by with few people riding.  This boycott lasted for 381 days.  It was a success.  On December 20, 1956 busses were desegregated.
Rosa (Susanna)	I was born on February 4, 1913 in Alabama.  I grew up there.  I attended Alabama State Teacher's College.  I married Raymond Parks and moved to Montgomery.  There we joined the local chapter of the NAACP.  I worked to help improve life for African-American people.
Reader 5 (Hugo)	After Rosa took a stand against segregation, she was fried from her job.  She and her husband moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1957, where Rosa served on staff for State Representative John Conyers.  Rosa continued to work hard for the NAACP.  She made sure that discrimination and violence against blacks was recorded.
Reader 6 (Luis)	All of this work helped prepare Rosa Parks for her own place in black history.  In 1979, Rosa won a medal for her civil rights work.  The Rosa Parks Freedom Award was established.  In 1987 Rosa founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute to help young black people.  In 1996, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1999 she received the Congressional Gold Medal.
Reader 7 (Matias)	At the age of 75, Mrs. Parks retired from her government job.  She never forgot the sense of self worth that molded her life.  She wanted to pass that quality on to as many other as possible.  She became known as the Mother of the Civil Right Movement.  Today in Montgomery, Alabama, there is a special monument that made Rosa very proud.  The bus on which she made history ran along Cleveland Avenue.  Today, the street is called Rosa Parks Boulevard.
Reader 1 (Mario)	Rosa Parks was a woman who was courageous enough to stand up and fight for something that she believed in.  She was truly a person who took a stand in history and made things change.  Rosa Parks died of natural causes at the home in Detroit on October 24, 2005.
Rosa (Susanna)	My Grandfather Edwards always spoke to black and white people with equal dignity and honesty.  Everyone knew he expected the same respect from them.  It is these qualities that I have always taken as my own.  Thank you, Grandfather.