Mother Parks, take your rest.

I was born 50 years after slavery, in 1913. I was allowed to read. My mother, who was a teacher, taught me when I was a very young child. The first school I attended was a small building that went from first to sixth grade. There was one teacher for all of the students. There could be anywhere from 50 to 60 students of all different ages.

I had felt for a long time that, if I was ever told to get up so a white person could sit, that I would refuse to do so.

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

I'm tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.

Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.