# How is Rosa Parks not the Jessica Lynch of the civil rights movement? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684 "2005-10-31T06:25:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684/101 "2005-11-02T01:14:35Z")
I’ll bet he got the shit beat out of him in prison, too. Imagine the black inmates finding out he beat up ROSA PARKS for fifty-three bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684/102 "2005-11-02T01:27:05Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Pretty much any other vaccines I’d say the eradication of smallpox in the wild has to rank pretty far up there, too. Smallpox was killing literally millions of people per year up until the 1960’s. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684/103 "2005-11-02T01:37:04Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > No one said it was rigged. What was said is that Rosa Parks KNEW a test case was needed, so she volunteered herself to be the test case. She pretty much knew what was going to happen, but that doesn’t mean it was rigged. Instead, she basically set up the segregationists, and defeated them. If it were rigged, she would have bribed the white man to ask for her seat. > > And I believe it was Cedric the Entertainer who said that, not Ice Cube. > > Rosa Parks knew going in what was going to happen, and I think that makes her even braver. Volunteered herself? She did this by herself without prior notice to anyone. She told herself that day “no, I won’t get up.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684/104 "2005-11-02T01:39:58Z")
But she knew beforehand that the NAACP was looking for a test case. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684/105 "2005-11-02T06:01:53Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > I’d say the eradication of smallpox in the wild has to rank pretty far up there, too. Smallpox was killing literally millions of people per year up until the 1960’s. I was going to mention that, but the politics of the supposed intential spread of it led me to just lump them all together. Plus, there are just too many vaccines today to make a fair list without listing them all or killing a shitload of hamsters. ---
**Author:** ![Barely\_Adequate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@Barely\_Adequate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barely_Adequate)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684/106 "2005-11-02T06:49:13Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Rosa did one thing, then spent the rest of her life talking about that one thing. For someone so adept at belaboring the ludicrous, the above statement stands out above all others. I defy you to cite instances of Rosa Parks spending any part of her life talking about her role in the Movement. It was nearly impossible to get her to make public statements, let alone book her for public speaking. She was virtually notorious for avoiding the limelight and allowing herself to to made anything of a “public” figure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-rosa-parks-not-the-jessica-lynch-of-the-civil-rights-movement/328684.md?page=5)