Today in American history…Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama.

I was at a funeral recently to honor a friend’s mother and he spoke so beautifully about how an ordinary person can make a difference – which his mother did in her lifetime.

My thoughts immediately went to Rosa Parks.

She was a seamstress at a local department store and also a secretary for the Montgomery, Alabama chapter of the NAACP.

Mrs. Parks was a quiet and reserved woman who could have easily faded into the background and fought silently for the civil rights movement.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she did an extraordinary thing and took a stand. Fought back. Made a difference.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, She refused to give up her seat on a bus in favor of a white person and was arrested for civil disobedience. She was doing her small part to fight against bus segregation. Little did she know, this act of fighting back and doing her part to try and make a difference would have such a huge impact. Her small act of defiance inspired the Black community to boycott Montgomery busses for nearly a year.

On November 13, 1956, the case of Browder v. Gayle resulted in a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which agreed that bus segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Rosa Parks. An ordinary person doing an extraordinary thing to make a difference and how a small act can change history.