Kerner Commission

Rosa Parks and her husband Raymond lost their jobs in the backlash from Montgomery, Alabama’s successful bus boycott to end segregation on that city’s buses.

In the late 1950’s, the couple moved to Detroit, Michigan, in search of better jobs. There, in 1964, Rosa offered her opinion.

“I don’t feel a great deal of difference here from Alabama,” she said. “Housing segregation is just as bad, and it seems more noticeable in larger cities.”

By Rosa’s words and actions, one can see the circumstances that shaped her life: discrimination, segregation, desire for a better job, for better housing, and...