"How History Got the Rosa Parks Story Wrong" by Jeanne Theoharis is a book that challenges the traditional narrative of Rosa Parks as a tired seamstress who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955, sparking the Civil Rights Movement. Instead, Theoharis argues that Parks was a lifelong activist who had been involved in civil rights work for many years before the Montgomery Bus Boycott and that her act of resistance was not an isolated incident but rather a deliberate and strategic act of protest.
There are several significant moments in the book that support Theoharis's argument, but one of the most significant is the discussion of Parks's activism prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Theoharis notes that Parks had been involved in civil rights work since the 1930s, when she joined the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Parks worked as a secretary for the NAACP and was involved in organizing voter registration drives and investigating cases of police brutality against Black people in Montgomery.
Theoharis also points out that Parks had been involved in other acts of civil disobedience prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For example, in 1946, Parks joined a group of Black activists who successfully integrated a Montgomery library by sitting in the "whites-only" section. In 1951, Parks and her husband Raymond were investigated by the FBI for their involvement in the Scottsboro Boys case, in which nine Black teenagers were falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama.
By highlighting Parks's long history of activism and her involvement in other acts of civil disobedience, Theoharis challenges the traditional narrative of Parks as a simple seamstress who spontaneously refused to give up her seat on a bus. Instead, Theoharis argues that Parks's act of resistance was part of a larger strategy of protest and that Parks was a deliberate and strategic activist who had been working for civil rights for many years.
In conclusion, the most significant moment in "How History Got the Rosa Parks Story Wrong" is the discussion of Parks's activism prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which challenges the traditional narrative of Parks as a spontaneous and isolated figure. This moment is significant because it provides evidence for Theoharis's argument that Parks was a lifelong activist and a deliberate and strategic participant in the Civil Rights Movement.