The Rosa Parks story, & the real Baburao | #141
When Mandira Bedi sponsored the Indian cricket team 🏏
Hello friends,
“To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try” ~Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was a seamstress by profession who, during the height of the Civil rights movement in America, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. This act of defiance was sewn into the fabric of American culture so much so that her birthday - February 4th, is celebrated as Rosa Parks Day. Her action inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the most successful mass movements against racial segregation.
This week’s newsletter is dedicated to her.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
Rosa Parks wasn’t the first woman to refuse to give up her seat. Nine months prior to the Rosa Parks incident, the teeange Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat and was arrested. She decided to challenge the arrest, but received less support unlike Rosa Parks. Words like ‘mouthy,’ ‘emotional’ and ‘feisty’ were used to describe her, whereas Rosa Parks was ‘stolid’, ‘calm’, ‘unflappable’ and considered more likeable and a better shot at winning the court case. Incidentally, one Martin Luther King made his political debut fighting the arrest of Colvin. Another teenager, Mary Louise Smith, also refused to give up her seat a few months after Claudette, but her case was not taken up because her father had an alcohol problem. Claudette and Mary along with Rosa, stitched their way into our hearts.
Where is Rosa Parks’ house? The house she lived in had almost been lost to history, falling into blight, abuse and foreclosure, in Detroit. But in 2016, the American artist Ryan Mendoza shipped the dismantled facade in two containers to his home in …… Germany?! Who would have thought that this little piece of history would end up in Wunder-ful Germany, preserved for future generations to admire. Not the wurst outcome.
The KKK is a notorious white supremacist group with a long history of racism, terrorism, and hate crimes against Black Americans. With their white robes and pointy hoods, they may look like they're on their way to a ghost-ly gathering, but they are full of sheet. In 1994, they applied to sponsor a section of Interstate Highway 55 near St. Louis, Missouri. The Supreme Court ruled that the state of Missouri could not refuse their offer. So Missouri took revenge by renaming the entire stretch of the highway the ‘Rosa Parks Highway’. Up next: ‘The Rosa Parks Park’ cause ya know, Missouri loves company.
From IWTK, with love 💌
Do you know who the real Baburao Ganpatrao Apte was? Check this for more.
Mandira Bedi is a queen. She once helped sponsor the Indian women’s cricket team.
Only In India 🇮🇳
Avant-garde investigative journalism seen here.
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❤️ IWTK
Thanks for sharing an amazing story. ✨
P.S- The channel should have kept the tap counter above their news channel logo.
The Juku story is fascinating. Thanks for sharing. Also would like to know how you are able to incorporate the share on WhatsApp link in the newsletter. As a fellow substacker I’ve been grappling with this. Do let me know, unless it’s a trade secret. :-) You can reach me on shantanusapre@gmail.com & subscribe to The Introspective Introvert on Substack.