The real story of Rosa Parks -- and why we need to confront myths about Black history | David Ikard

Summary

In this powerful narrative, a father recounts his son's school lesson about Rosa Parks, which inaccurately depicted her as an old, tired woman who sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott by chance. The father corrects this, emphasizing Parks' activism and strength. His son's subsequent school project to debunk the myth leads to a teacher's apology and a corrected lesson, highlighting the importance of accurate history in understanding civil rights. The speaker challenges the audience to confront racial narratives and acknowledges the collective responsibility in shaping a just future.

Takeaways

• 👨‍👧‍👦 The speaker is a proud African-American father of two children, Elijah and Octavia, who shares a personal story about his son's education on African-American history.
• 📚 Elijah's initial understanding of Rosa Parks was that she was an old, tired woman who refused to give up her bus seat, which the speaker corrects by emphasizing her actual age and the strength of her activism.
• 🔍 The speaker highlights the importance of accurate historical narratives, showing how misconceptions can be harmful and perpetuate stereotypes.
• 👨‍🏫 Elijah's teacher initially provides an inaccurate account of Rosa Parks' activism, which the speaker plans to address, reflecting on the challenges of discussing race and racism in educational settings.
• 💡 Elijah suggests a creative solution by using a public speaking assignment to correct the misconceptions about Rosa Parks, demonstrating the power of student-led education.
• 🙏 The teacher acknowledges her mistake and corrects the historical narrative in class, showing the positive impact of open dialogue and willingness to learn.
• 🤔 The speaker expresses anger and frustration that his young son has to educate others about his own history and identity, highlighting the burden minority children often carry.
• 📖 Rosa Parks wrote her autobiography to set the record straight about her life and activism, countering the narrative of her as an accidental activist.
• 🏡 The civil rights movement was a dangerous and challenging time, with activists like Rosa Parks facing significant threats and hardships, which the speaker wants to ensure is not forgotten.
• 🌟 The speaker calls for a collective effort to confront and understand racial issues, emphasizing that the future of all children depends on addressing these challenges head-on.

Q & A

What misconception did Elijah learn about Rosa Parks in school?

Elijah learned that Rosa Parks was a frail, old woman who refused to give up her bus seat because she was tired from working all day, which oversimplifies the true story of her activism.

How did Elijah's father correct the misconception about Rosa Parks?

Elijah's father explained that Rosa Parks was not old or physically tired; she was a 42-year-old activist who was tired of inequality and oppression, and her refusal to give up her seat was part of a deliberate act of civil resistance.

What significant aspect of Rosa Parks' life did Elijah learn after reading her autobiography?

Elijah learned that Rosa Parks' grandfather was a gun-toting man who would defend his family against threats, and that Parks herself had been an activist for years, often working alongside her husband in civil rights efforts, preparing for dangerous situations.

What approach did Elijah take to address the misinformation he learned in school?

Instead of letting his father confront the teacher, Elijah decided to use a public speaking assignment to educate his class by debunking the myths surrounding Rosa Parks.

How did the teacher respond to Elijah's presentation about Rosa Parks?

The teacher apologized to Elijah for teaching inaccurate information and later corrected the lesson for the entire class by providing a more accurate account of Rosa Parks' life and activism.

Why was Elijah’s father upset after his son educated the teacher?

Elijah’s father was upset because his nine-year-old son had to take on the burden of educating his teacher about his own history, a responsibility that should not have been placed on a child.

Why did Rosa Parks write her autobiography?

Rosa Parks wrote her autobiography to correct the public narrative that reduced her to an 'accidental activist' and to highlight the intense civil rights struggle, including the violence and threats activists like her faced during that time.

What does the story about Fred and his maid, Mabel, illustrate?

The story highlights how white individuals often misinterpret moments of racial tension through a lens of comfort and mutual affection, without acknowledging the deeper power dynamics at play, as Fred failed to recognize the pressure Mabel was under as an employee and how she tempered her emotions.

What point does the speaker make by referring to Jews, Italians, and Irish people in America?

The speaker points out that there was a time when Jews, Italians, and Irish were not considered 'white' in America, emphasizing how race is a socially constructed concept that has historically excluded certain groups, which highlights the importance of confronting racial issues.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of addressing racial issues for the future?

The speaker stresses that improving race relations is crucial for the future well-being of all children, including his own, arguing that these challenges must be confronted for society to progress and for the future of both black and white children.

Outlines

00:00

👨‍👧‍👦 Father-Son Conversation on Rosa Parks

The speaker, an African-American cultural studies professor, shares a story about his son Elijah's misconceptions about Rosa Parks, learned in school. Elijah believed Parks was an old woman who refused to give up her bus seat due to exhaustion and tired feet. The father corrects this, explaining that Parks was 42, not old or tired, but was protesting inequality. He gives Elijah Parks' autobiography to read, leading to a deeper understanding of her activism and family background, including her gun-toting grandfather and her own preparedness for civil rights activism.

05:00

🤔 Challenging Misconceptions in Education

The speaker discusses the challenge of addressing the misinformation his son received at school about Rosa Parks. He considers the concept of 'white fragility' and the difficulty of discussing race with white individuals. Elijah suggests using a public speaking assignment to correct the myths about Parks. After his presentation, the teacher apologizes and corrects the lesson, but the speaker feels anger that his young son has to educate others about his own history, a burden traditionally carried by black parents.

10:02

🏠 The Reality of Rosa Parks' Activism

The speaker elaborates on the harsh realities faced by Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists. He mentions the bombings, death threats, and the constant pressure that led Parks and her husband to lose their jobs and eventually leave the South. He emphasizes the importance of understanding this history, as Parks herself wrote her autobiography to correct the narrative and highlight the true nature of the struggle for civil rights in America.

15:02

📚 The Impact of Misremembered History

The speaker recounts a story from his graduate school days involving a white professor, 'Fred,' who wrote about a racially charged event. The professor's narrative romanticized a moment with his family's maid, Mabel, during Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. The speaker challenges the professor's perspective, pointing out the power dynamics and the maid's likely fear of losing her job. He argues that the story was more about the professor's comfort than Mabel's experience, highlighting the need to confront and correct racial misconceptions for the future of all children.

Keywords

💡African-American history

African-American history refers to the experiences, culture, and historical events of African Americans in the United States. In the video, the father's son is excited about learning this subject in school, which is significant because it reflects the importance of recognizing and teaching the contributions and struggles of African Americans. The father, being a professor of African-American and cultural studies, underscores the personal and academic relevance of this history to their family.

💡Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks is a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement, known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott after she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. The video script corrects misconceptions about Parks, emphasizing her activism and strength, not just her act of defiance on the bus. Her portrayal in the script challenges the simplified narrative often taught in schools and highlights the complexity of her character and contributions.

💡Myth debunking

Myth debunking is the process of correcting false or misleading information. In the video, the son's school project to 'debunk the myths of Rosa Parks' is a direct response to the inaccurate history he was taught. This action is significant as it represents the empowerment of individuals, particularly the younger generation, to seek truth and challenge misinformation, even when it comes from authoritative sources like schools.

💡White fragility

White fragility is a concept introduced by sociologist Robin DiAngelo, referring to the defensive reactions that some white people have when their racial biases are exposed or challenged. The video mentions this concept when the father contemplates discussing the inaccuracies in his son's history lesson with the teacher, suggesting the potential for discomfort or resistance when addressing racial issues.

💡Civil rights activism

Civil rights activism encompasses actions and efforts to promote equality and justice for all citizens, particularly in the context of racial discrimination. Rosa Parks is highlighted as not just an accidental activist but a committed one, with a history of involvement in civil rights issues. The video emphasizes the importance of understanding the depth of her activism and the broader movement, rather than reducing it to a single act.

💡Nonviolence

Nonviolence is the practice of resolving conflicts without using violence or aggression. It is associated with leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. The video script challenges the narrative that Parks was thinking about nonviolence or Gandhi when she refused to give up her seat, suggesting that her actions were more personal and rooted in her own experiences and those of her family.

💡Self-actualization

Self-actualization is the process of realizing one's potential and becoming the best version of oneself. In the context of the video, the father's goal of raising 'self-actualized black children' reflects the importance of understanding and embracing one's identity, history, and culture fully. This is particularly relevant for the son, who takes on the responsibility of educating others about his heritage.

💡Accidental activist

The term 'accidental activist' is used in the video to describe the myth that Rosa Parks's protest was a spontaneous act rather than a calculated stand against injustice. The father in the video corrects this, emphasizing that Parks was an intentional and active participant in the civil rights struggle, not just a passive figure.

💡Public speaking assignment

A public speaking assignment is a task given to students to research and present a topic to an audience. In the video, the son uses this opportunity to educate his class about the real Rosa Parks, demonstrating how educational institutions can provide platforms for students to share important perspectives and correct misconceptions.

💡Humanity

Humanity refers to the qualities that make us human, such as compassion, empathy, and the capacity for moral reasoning. The video script touches on the idea that the son had to educate his teacher about 'his own humanity,' highlighting the importance of recognizing and respecting the full humanity of all individuals, particularly in the context of historical and cultural understanding.

Highlights

Father shares his son's excitement about learning African-American history in school.

Son learns a simplified version of Rosa Parks' story, focusing on her being tired and old.

Father corrects the misconception, emphasizing Rosa Parks' actual age and activism.

Rosa Parks was not just tired; she was tired of inequality and oppression.

Son is encouraged to read Rosa Parks' autobiography to understand her true story.

Discovers Rosa Parks had a background in activism and a strong, armed grandfather.

Son's presentation in school leads to a teacher's apology and a corrected lesson on Rosa Parks.

Father reflects on the burden of educating others about Black history and humanity.

Rosa Parks wrote her autobiography to correct the distorted narrative about her life.

The reality of the civil rights movement included bombings, death threats, and unemployment.

Author recounts a professor's misinterpretation of a personal story involving a maid during the civil rights era.

The importance of understanding historical context and personal narratives accurately.

Challenge to the audience to recognize and confront racial biases and misconceptions.

The future of all children is tied to the way we handle and educate about race relations.

The necessity for everyone to be part of the solution in improving race relations.

Transcripts

I am the proud father of two beautiful children,

Elijah, 15, and Octavia, 12.

When Elijah was in the fourth grade,

he came to me,

came home from school bubbling over with excitement

about what he had learned that day about African-American history.

Now, I'm an African-American and cultural studies professor,

and so, as you can imagine,

African-American culture is kind of serious around my home.

So I was very proud that my son was excited about what he had learned

that day in school.

So I said, "What did you learn?"

He said, "I learned about Rosa Parks."

I said, "OK, what did you learn about Rosa Parks?"

He said, "I learned that Rosa Parks was this frail, old black woman

in the 1950s

in Montgomery, Alabama.

And she sat down on this bus,

and she had tired feet,

and when the bus driver told her to give up her seat to a white patron,

she refused because she had tired feet.

It had been a long day,

and she was tired of oppression,

and she didn't give up her seat.

And she marched with Martin Luther King,

and she believed in nonviolence."

And I guess he must have looked at my face

and saw that I was a little less than impressed

by his

... um ...

history lesson.

And so he stopped, and he was like, "Dad, what's wrong? What did I get wrong?"

I said, "Son, you didn't get anything wrong,

but I think your teacher got a whole lot of things wrong."

(Laughter)

He said, "Well, what do you mean?"

I said, "Rosa Parks was not tired.

She was not old.

And she certainly didn't have tired feet."

He said, "What?"

I said, "Yes!

Rosa Parks was only 42 years old" --

Yeah, you're shocked, right? Never heard that.

"Rosa Parks was only 42 years old,

she had only worked six hours that day, and she was a seamstress

and her feet were just fine.

(Laughter)

The only thing that she was tired of

was she was tired of inequality.

She was tired of oppression."

And my son said,

"Well, why would my teacher tell me this thing?

This is confusing for me."

Because he loved his teacher, and she was a good teacher,

a young-ish, 20-something white woman,

really, really smart, pushed him, so I liked her as well.

But he was confused. "Why would she tell me this?" he said.

He said, "Dad, tell me more. Tell me more. Tell me more about Rosa Parks."

And I said, "Son, I'll do you one better."

He was like, "What?"

I said, "I'm going to buy her autobiography,

and I'm going to let you read it yourself."

(Laughter)

So as you can imagine,

Elijah wasn't too excited about this new, lengthy homework assignment

that his dad had just given him, but he took it in stride.

And he came back after he had read it,

and he was excited about what he had learned.

He said, "Dad, not only was Rosa Parks not initially into nonviolence,

but Rosa Parks's grandfather, who basically raised her

and was light enough to pass as white,

used to walk around town with his gun in his holster,

and people knew if you messed with Mr. Parks's children or grandchildren,

he would put a cap in your proverbial bottom."

(Laughter)

Right?

He was not someone to mess with.

And he said, "I also learned that Rosa Parks married a man in Raymond

who was a lot like her grandfather."

He would organize.

He was a civil rights activist.

He would organize events

and sometimes the events would be at Rosa Parks's home.

And one time Rosa Parks remarked

that there were so many guns on the table,

because they were prepared for somebody to come busting into the door

that they were prepared for whatever was going to go down,

that Rosa Parks said, "There were so many guns on the table

that I forgot to even offer them coffee or food."

This is who Rosa Parks was.

And in fact, Rosa Parks, when she was sitting on that bus that day,

waiting for those police officers to arrive

and not knowing what was going to happen to her,

she was not thinking about Martin Luther King,

who she barely knew.

She was not thinking about nonviolence or Gandhi.

She was thinking about her grandfather,

a gun-toting, take-no-mess grandfather.

That's who Rosa Parks was thinking about.

My son was mesmerized by Rosa Parks,

and I was proud of him to see this excitement.

But then I still had a problem.

Because I still had to go his school

and address the issue with his teacher,

because I didn't want her to continue to teach the kids

obviously false history.

So I'm agonizing over this,

primarily because I understand, as an African-American man,

that whenever you talk to whites about racism

or anything that's racially sensitive,

there's usually going to be a challenge.

This is what white sociologist Robin DiAngelo calls "white fragility."

She argues that, in fact,

because whites have so little experience being challenged

about their white privilege

that whenever even the most minute challenge is brought before them,

they usually cry,

get angry

or run.

(Laughter)

And I have experienced them all.

And so, when I was contemplating confronting his teacher,

I wasn't happy about it,

but I was like, this is a necessary evil

of being a black parent trying to raise self-actualized black children.

So I called Elijah to me and said,

"Elijah, I'm going to set up an appointment with your teacher

and try and correct this

and maybe your principal.

What do you think?"

And Elijah said,

"Dad, I have a better idea."

And I said, "Really? What's your idea?"

He said, "We have a public speaking assignment,

and why don't I use that public speaking assignment

to talk about debunking the myths of Rosa Parks?"

And I was like,

"Well, that is a good idea."

So Elijah goes to school,

he does his presentation,

he comes back home,

and I could see something positive happened.

I said, "Well, what happened, son?"

He said, "Well, later on in that day,

the teacher pulled me aside,

and she apologized to me for giving that misinformation."

And then something else miraculous happened the next day.

She actually taught a new lesson on Rosa Parks,

filling in the gaps that she had left and correcting the mistakes that she made.

And I was so, so proud of my son.

But then I thought about it.

And I got angry.

And I got real angry.

Why? Why would I get angry?

Because my nine-year-old son had to educate his teacher

about his history,

had to educate his teacher about his own humanity.

He's nine years old.

He should be thinking about basketball or soccer

or the latest movie.

He should not be thinking about having to take the responsibility

of educating his teacher,

his students,

about himself, about his history.

That was a burden that I carried.

That was a burden that my parents carried

and generations before them carried.

And now I was seeing my son take on that burden, too.

You see, that's why Rosa Parks wrote her autobiography.

Because during her lifetime,

if you can imagine,

you do this amazing thing,

you're alive and you're talking about your civil rights activism,

and a story emerges

in which somebody is telling the world

that you were old and you had tired feet

and you just were an accidental activist,

not that you had been activist by then for 20 years,

not that the boycott had been planned for months,

not that you were not even the first or the second or even the third woman

to be arrested for doing that.

You become an accidental activist, even in her own lifetime.

So she wrote that autobiography to correct the record,

because what she wanted to remind people of

was that this

is what it was like

in the 1950s

trying to be black in America

and fight for your rights.

During the year, a little over a year, that the boycott lasted,

there were over four church bombings.

Martin Luther King's house was bombed twice.

Other civil rights leaders' houses were bombed in Birmingham.

Rosa Parks's husband slept at night with a shotgun,

because they would get constant death threats.

In fact, Rosa Parks's mother lived with them,

and sometimes she would stay on the phone for hours

so that nobody would call in with death threats,

because it was constant and persistent.

In fact, there was so much tension,

there was so much pressure, there was so much terrorism,

that Rosa Parks and her husband, they lost their jobs,

and they became unemployable

and eventually had to leave and move out of the South.

This is a civil rights reality

that Rosa Parks wanted to make sure that people understood.

So you say, "Well, David, what does that have to do with me?

I'm a well-meaning person.

I didn't own slaves.

I'm not trying to whitewash history.

I'm a good guy. I'm a good person."

Let me tell you what it has to do with you,

and I'll tell it to you by telling you a story

about a professor of mine, a white professor,

when I was in graduate school, who was a brilliant, brilliant individual.

We'll call him "Fred."

And Fred was writing this history of the civil rights movement,

but he was writing specifically about a moment

that happened to him in North Carolina

when this white man shot this black man in cold blood in a wide-open space

and was never convicted.

And so it was this great book,

and he called together a couple of his professor friends

and he called me to read a draft of it before the final submission.

And I was flattered that he called me;

I was only a graduate student then.

I was kind of feeling myself a little bit. I was like, "OK, yeah."

I'm sitting around amongst intellectuals,

and I read the draft of the book.

And there was a moment in the book

that struck me as being deeply problematic,

and so I said,

"Fred," as we were sitting around talking about this draft,

I said, "Fred, I've got a real problem with this moment that you talk

about your maid in your book."

And I could see Fred get a little "tight," as we say.

He said, "What do you mean? That's a great story.

It happened just like I said."

I said, "Mmm ... can I give you another scenario?"

Now, what's the story?

It was 1968.

Martin Luther King had just been assassinated.

His maid, "domestic" -- we'll call her "Mabel,"

was in the kitchen.

Little Fred is eight years old.

Little Fred comes into the kitchen,

and Mabel, who he has only seen as smiling and helpful and happy,

is bent over the sink,

and she's crying,

and she's sobbing

inconsolably.

And little Fred comes over to her and says, "Mabel, what is wrong?"

Mabel turns, and she says,

"They killed him! They killed our leader. They killed Martin Luther King.

He's dead! They are monsters."

And little Fred says,

"It'll be OK, Mabel. It'll be OK. It'll be OK."

And she looked at him, and she says, "No, it's not going to be OK.

Did you not hear what I just said?

They killed Martin Luther King."

And Fred,

son of a preacher,

looks up at Mabel, and he says,

"But Mabel, didn't Jesus die on the cross for our sins?

Wasn't that a good outcome?

Maybe this will be a good outcome.

Maybe the death of Martin Luther King will lead to a good outcome."

And as Fred tells the story,

he says that Mabel put her hand over her mouth,

she reached down and she gave little Fred a hug,

and then she reached into the icebox,

and took out a couple Pepsis,

gave him some Pepsis

and sent him on his way to play with his siblings.

And he said,

"This was proof that even in the most harrowing times of race struggle

that two people could come together across racial lines

and find human commonality

along the lines of love and affection."

And I said, "Fred, that is some BS."

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Fred was like,

"But I don't understand, David. That's the story."

I said, "Fred, let me ask you a question."

I said, "You were in North Carolina in 1968.

If Mabel would've went to her community -- you were eight years old --

what do you think the eight-year-old African-American children

were calling her?

Do you think they called her by her first name?"

No, they called her "Miss Mabel,"

or they called her "Miss Johnson," or they called her "Auntie Johnson."

They would have never dared call her by her first name,

because that would have been the height of disrespect.

And yet, you were calling her by her first name

every single day that she worked,

and you never thought about it."

I said, "Let me ask you another question: Was Mabel married?

Did she have children?

What church did she go to?

What was her favorite dessert?"

Fred could not answer any of those questions.

I said, "Fred, this story is not about Mabel.

This story is about you."

I said, "This story made you feel good,

but this story is not about Mabel.

The reality is,

what probably happened was, Mabel was crying,

which was not something she customarily did,

so she was letting her guard down.

And you came into the kitchen,

and you caught her at a weak moment where she was letting her guard down.

And see, because you thought of yourself as just like one of her children,

you didn't recognize that you were in fact the child of her employer.

And she'd found herself yelling at you.

And then she caught herself,

realizing that, 'If I'm yelling at him

and he goes back and he tells his dad or he tells mom,

I could lose my job.'

And so she tempered herself, and she ended up --

even though she needed consoling -- she ended up consoling you

and sending you on your way,

perhaps so she could finish mourning in peace."

And Fred was stunned.

And he realized that he had actually misread that moment.

And see, this is what they did to Rosa Parks.

Because it's a lot easier to digest an old grandmother with tired feet

who doesn't stand up because she wants to fight for inequality,

but because her feet and her back are tired,

and she's worked all day.

See, old grandmothers are not scary.

But young, radical black women

who don't take any stuff from anybody

are very scary,

who stand up to power

and are willing to die for that --

those are not the kind of people

that make us comfortable.

So you say,

"What do you want me to do, David?

I don't know what to do."

Well, what I would say to you is,

there was a time in which,

if you were Jewish, you were not white,

if you were Italian, you were not white,

if you were Irish, you were not white

in this country.

It took a while before the Irish, the Jews and the Italians became white.

Right?

There was a time in which you were "othered,"

when you were the people on the outside.

Toni Morrison said,

"If, in order for you to be tall, I have to be on my knees,

you have a serious problem."

She says, "White America has a serious, serious problem."

To be honest, I don't know if race relations will improve in America.

But I know that if they will improve,

we have to take these challenges on head on.

The future of my children depends on it.

The future of my children's children depends on it.

And, whether you know it or not,

the future of your children and your children's children

depends on it, too.

Thank you.

(Applause)