Newswise — "Rosa Parks' arrest in 1955 for refusing to move to the back of the bus set in motion the events that led to the Montgomery bus boycott and the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to national prominence," says Maurice Isserman, professor of history at Hamilton College and expert on 20th-century U.S. history. "Rosa Parks was no newcomer to civil rights activism; she had been involved with the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP since the 1940s; she was active on voter registration campaigns; and she served as adviser to the local NAACP's youth council. The example this 42-year-old seamstress set in 1955 helped inspire a new generation of young activists, and a new style of activism, that came to be known as 'putting your body on the line.' A single act of defiance of injustice would have enormous repercussions in the decade to come."
Maurice Isserman,an expert on reform and radical movements, is widely acknowledged to be the preeminent historian of the American left. A former Fulbright grant-winner, he is co-author of "America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s." His book, "The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington," has been named to countless non-fiction "must-read" lists.
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