About Rosa Parks with Susan Reyburn
b'Susan Reyburn, Library of Congress curator and contributor to the Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words exhibit, is interviewed by Mike Wood in this week\\u2019s episode of WorkHuman Radio. They discuss the contributions Rosa Parks made to the dismantling of segregation laws, including how her stance impacted workplace rights.\\n\\nLiving on a Tightrope\\nSusan shares what she discovered about Rosa Parks while putting the exhibit together. Rosa Parks, in her letters, describes living in a segregated society as constantly being on a tightrope: having to do mental and physical gymnastics to work around difficult situations, and never knowing if you might fall.\\n\\nLove in Law\\nRosa Parks first started using organized methods for civil rights during the Scottsboro Trials. She married Raymond Parks in 1932, with whom she shared similar opinions about racial politics. Raymond was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branch, in Montgomery, Alabama. They worked with others to overturn the accused\\u2019s convictions and held secret meetings at their house.\\n\\nBefore Rosa, There was Claudette\\nInterestingly, Rosa was not the only one in history who resisted being told to move. What made her experience different was that its timing lined up perfectly with a boycott that Jo Ann Robinson had been planning for years. The fallout of the Bus Boycott inspired by Rosa Parks, in conjunction with the lawsuit filed by another woman, Claudette Colvin, who was forced to give up her seat, were the driving factors behind the abolition of the Jim Crow laws in Montgomery.\\n\\nWorkplace Rights\\nAccording to Susan, Rosa wasn\\u2019t treated well after the Bus Boycott. She was soon without a job and no one would hire her. Eventually, she began working for congressman John Conyers, and was credited with ensuring his victory after she campaigned for him. He hired her as his receptionist and as part of his social service committee, which enabled her to intervene in many workplace complaints.\\xa0\\n\\nMother of the Movement\\nSince the early 60\\u2019s, the black community has regarded Rosa as the mother of the modern day civil rights movement. \\u201cNo one is asking for special rights,\\u201d Susan says, \\u201cthey\\u2019re only asking for equal rights.\\u201d\\n\\nResources\\nWorkHuman Live 2020'