Rosa Parks, the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” would have turned 100 today (February 4, 1913 - October 24, 2005):
Fingerprint Card of Rosa Parks
Aurelia S. Browder et al. v. W. A. Gayle et al., No. 1147, from the Civil Cases series of the Records of District Courts of the United States
On December 1, 1955, during a typical evening rush hour in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42 year-old woman took a seat near the front of the bus on her way home from the Montgomery Fair department store where she worked as a seamstress. Before she reached her destination, she quietly set off a social revolution when the bus driver instructed her to move, and she refused. The bus driver called the police and they arrested Rosa Parks, an African American woman of unchallenged character.
The African-American community of Montgomery organized a boycott of the buses in protest of the discriminating treatment they had endured for years. The boycott, under the leadership of 26-year-old minister Martin Luther King, Jr., was a peaceful, coordinated protest that lasted 381 days and captured world attention.Rosa Parks’ legacy is being honored with a special document display and programs at the National Archives during the month of February.
“Members of ‘Throttle Queens’ put last touches to their pride and joy, club coupe which will compete against male-driven car at the San Fernando Drag Strip. From left are Wilma Brown, Pat Marian, Pat Field, the driver, and June Minnich. Car hit 97 miles per hour and won trophy in its division.”
Dated October 9, 1956
Abby Hoffman-When no female leagues were available to her, Hoffman cut her hair and was registered as a boy “Ab Hoffman” in order to play hockey in the mid 50’s. She was only 8 years old at the time and had everyone convinced she was a male until she participated in an all-star game that required players to submit their birth certificates.
Hoffman was ejected from the league and her story made international news. She later assisted the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in implementing a national women’s championship, and today, representatives from each province vie for the Abby Hoffman Cup.
Source: penshead.com
(Source: classichockeyplayers)
Creative Women Behind Ike’s 1952 Campaign
During the 1952 campaign, Jacqueline Cochran, businesswoman and aviatrix, persuaded employees at Walt Disney Studios to produce an animated cartoon in support of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s candidacy.Staff at Disney worked off the clock to produce the short animated commercial, “We’ll Take Ike.” The lyrics for this song were written by Gil George, who was actually Hazel George. She was first hired as a nurse at Disney Studios. After her knack for writing was discovered she wrote song lyrics for The Mickey Mouse Club and a number of Disney animated feature films.
In the pictured telegram, Jacqueline Cochran wrote, “I personally believe the proposed short could be the greatest piece of propaganda in the whole campaign…” 9/30/52
Also pictured, a letter from Bill Anderson at Disney that accompanied an autographed animation cel setup and copy of the song, “We’ll Take Ike” for the newly elected President Eisenhower. 11/19/52.
-from the Eisenhower Library
The 1952 individual Dressage podium – gold went to Henri St-Cyr (Sweden), silver to Lis Hartel (Denmark) and bronze to André Jousseaume (France).
Women were first allowed to compete in Dressage in 1952, making Lis Hartel the first woman to medal in the sport. Eight years earlier Lis contracted polio while pregnant and became paralyzed from the knees down. Despite this impairment, Lis won silver medals in both the 1952 and 1956 Olympics.
life:
Not originally published in LIFE: Short Creek raid, Arizona, 1953.
See more photos here.
The Short Creek raid was a disastrous attempt to curtail polygamy within an isolated Fundamentalist Mormon community in Arizona. There was a public backlash against the government splitting up families and interfering with the freedom of religion (although polygamy was and remains illegal). For sixty years, the government largely left the FLDS to their own devices. Meanwhile, the group became more insular and controlled. If you click through the Life photos linked above, the people look relatively normal for the 1950s. A bit more old fashioned than the average person perhaps, but not as distinctively other as they seem today. The women photographed often had chosen their own husbands as placement marriages (wives assigned to men by FLDS leaders) had only begun a few years earlier. The women pictured did their part by appearing sympathetic to the American public, but it indirectly led to systematic abuse of their grandchildren by the FLDS leadership
If you’re interested in the FLDS, here are two books suggestions. Carolyn Jessop’s memoir Escape chronicles her life in the increasingly abusive FLDS community of Colorado City (formerly Short Creek) and her eventual escape. Answer Them Nothing follows the history of the FLDS through the rein of Warren Jeffs, including the Texas raid in 2008.
President Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth laughing and looking at things.
“That’s right…we won!”
Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Ensemble
Norman Hartnell, 1952
