The Saint Helena Forum will host a conversation with author H.H. Leonards about her friend and mentor Rosa Parks.
The free virtual forum will be available for streaming on Friday, Dec. 1, at shforum.org.
Leonards, in conversation with journalist Noah Griffin, will offer personal insights and anecdotes about Parks, considered the “mother of the civil rights movement in America.”
Parks was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her act of civil disobedience inspired the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott and led to a Supreme Court decision banning discrimination on public transportation.
Author of seven books, Leonards is the founder of PIR Marketing and the O Museum and Mansion, an historic 20th-century Civil Rights Site on the African American Heritage Trail. She is also co-founder of the nonprofit 51 Steps to Freedom.
People are also reading…
Leonards is a recipient of Purdue University’s Distinguished Service Award, which honors leadership through the development of significant contributions to private or public programs that improve quality of life for individuals, families and communities. Her writing has appeared in Newsweek and Ms. magazines. She has been a featured speaker at the Rosa Parks Museum, the National Museum of African-American Music, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Griffin studied history at Yale and Fisk universities before earning a law degree from Harvard. After college, Noah spent 35 years in government, politics and journalism. In those capacities he served on statewide staff in two presidential campaigns, as an administrative aide to Dianne Feinstein and press secretary to San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan. He also served as director of public affairs at the Charles Schwab Corp.
In journalism, Griffin wrote for the Marin Independent Journal, the Hearst Examiner, and was nationally syndicated with Scripps Howard. He’s appeared on the PBS NewsHour, CNN and CBS Sunday Morning.
Founded in 2019, the Saint Helena Forum is a grassroots, entirely volunteer organization, funded by donations and grants from our local Napa Valley friends and neighbors. Its mission is to inform, inspire and entertain every citizen of the region and beyond by providing access to a broad range of humanities-based presentations.
Happy birthday, Rosa Parks! Today’s 5 to Know takes a look back at her life of activism. Other trending news includes Iowa caucus chaos and tonight’s State of the Union.
Photos: Rosa Parks, civil rights icon, gets her place in Alabama history
Nov. 2, 2005
In a Nov. 2, 2005 file photo, Congressman John Conyers, D-Mich., speaks at the funeral for civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks in Detroit. Detroit police say the former congressman died at his home on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019. He was 90. ( (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
April 11, 1991
Left to right are C. Dolores Tucker, executive producer of Parks Salute; Charles Rangel (D-NYC), Rosa Parks, Elaine Steele, executive assistant to Rosa Parks; John Conyers (D-Mich.), shown together, April 11, 1991. (AP Photo)
1955: Civil rights movement takes off
In August of 1955, a black teenager named Emmett Till was murdered for reportedly whistling at a white woman. The men responsible were acquitted by an all-white jury, although decades later witnesses recanted their statements against Till. On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man, which launched a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. Also in 1955: Jonas Salk’s Polio vaccine was created, Disneyland opened in California, and actor James Dean died in a car accident.
1946: Morgan v. Virginia invalidates separate but equal on interstate bus transport
In a case predating the Rosa Parks bus boycott, Irene Morgan was riding on a Greyhound bus and refused to give her seat up to a white passenger. Morgan was arrested but refused to plead guilty to violating Virginia’s segregation law. That move presented an opportunity for Morgan’s lawyer to argue that the law unfairly got in the way of interstate commerce. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in her favor.
1955: Rosa Parks sparks Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks’ decision not to give up her seat to a white man on an Alabama bus changed the course of American history. The same day Parks was convicted of violating segregation laws, black community leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., organized a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. It would not end until the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation laws were unconstitutional. Parks subsequently became a symbol of the civil rights movement and continued her work as an activist against inequality.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Her act of civil disobedience launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a 13-month protest during which black residents refused to ride city buses. The boycott was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Improvement Association, which launched civil rights into the national spotlight. The Supreme Court ultimately outlawed segregation on public buses.