Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Desegregation Pioneer Dies at 90
Washington Post - AP ^ | 08/13/07

Posted on 08/13/2007 8:13:48 AM PDT by Borges

Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, a black woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat to white passengers led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision more than a decade before Rosa Parks gained recognition for doing the same, has died at 90.

Kirkaldy died Friday at her daughter's home, said Fred Carter, director of Carter Funeral Home in Newport News.

Kirkaldy, born Irene Morgan in Baltimore in 1917, was arrested in 1944 for refusing to give up her seat on a Greyhound bus heading from Gloucester to Baltimore, and for resisting arrest.

Her case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by an NAACP lawyer named Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black justice on the high court.

The Supreme Court held in June 1946 that Virginia law requiring the races to be separated on interstate buses _ even making passengers change seats during their journey to maintain separation if the number of passengers changed was an invalid interference in interstate commerce.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: desegregation; obituary

1 posted on 08/13/2007 8:13:49 AM PDT by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Borges

So why is it that we never hear about this brave lady?


2 posted on 08/13/2007 8:20:48 AM PDT by netmilsmom (To attack one section of Christianity in this day and age, is to waste time .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Borges

i’ve never heard of her... i just told my sons the Rosa Parks story on Saturday night when we were discussing if there were times when people do something good and go to jail...


3 posted on 08/13/2007 8:29:01 AM PDT by latina4dubya
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: netmilsmom
She was a normal person who did the right thing. She won her court case, but that was (largely) the end of it for her.

There was another woman, named Colvin, years later who was chosen as a symbol who would end the "back of the bus" practice. Unfortunately, Colvin became pregnant with an older, married man's child. So, her value as a symbol diminished. That was the end of it for her.

Rosa Parks was selected by the NAACP to be a replacement for Colvin. Parks was a creation of political activists. She was manufactured in order to get national publicity to change a bad practice. Parks is well known (and Kirkaldy is not) because Parks was created to be a symbol.

4 posted on 08/13/2007 8:33:17 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agammemnon dead.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: netmilsmom
So why is it that we never hear about this brave lady?

For many of the same reasons you never hear mention of Gen. Robert E. Lee's daughter being arrested in Virginia in 1902 for refusing to give up her seat in the black section of a bus.

5 posted on 08/13/2007 8:36:38 AM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: fso301

They had buses in 1902?


6 posted on 08/13/2007 8:59:07 AM PDT by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: fso301

“For many of the same reasons you never hear mention of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s daughter being arrested in Virginia in 1902 for refusing to give up her seat in the black section of a bus.”

I’m sure you have a point, but I’m not seeing it. What are the reasons?


7 posted on 08/13/2007 9:01:30 AM PDT by Kirkwood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Borges

I think he meant a passenger train car.


8 posted on 08/13/2007 9:03:20 AM PDT by Kirkwood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

You know, the bus law seems like one of those things which were broken more often than not, but only be enforced when a bus driver or white passenger decided to make a stink about it. I heard that Colvin made a huge ruckus about her arrest as well, fighting with the cops, cursing and spitting - such that she’s either gotten away with it before or she was totally insane.

I’m betting they had a few dozen “Rosa Parks” planned, hoping one of them would get arrested.


9 posted on 08/13/2007 9:08:19 AM PDT by Philly Nomad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Borges
They had buses in 1902?

Streetcar, tram, train, I don't recall which. It was some sort of transport system and if my memory serves me corectly, it was an urban transport system.

10 posted on 08/13/2007 9:30:23 AM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Kirkwood
I’m sure you have a point, but I’m not seeing it. What are the reasons?

I think it largely timing. The timing just wasn't right.

A few hundred years earlier, Martin Luther would have just been another heretic lost to history had it not been for Guttenberg and the ability to communicate Martin Luther's thoughts widely and rapidly. Of course, a sufficient amount of public literacy was also required in order to read and understand what Martin Luther was writing about. Literacy, communications and probably a host of other events needed to line up in order to create an environment where the Reformation could occur.

In a similar manner, a host of events needed to line up in order to create the right moment for desegregation to occur. For those desegregationists of all color who came before Rosa Parks, the time just wasn't right for them.

11 posted on 08/13/2007 9:42:24 AM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Borges

I have a great gangster rap song idea ...

make a song celebrating this brave woman, and have BET put it in heavy rotation

a fitting tribute to de-segregation /sarc.


12 posted on 08/13/2007 9:49:54 AM PDT by daku ("My dream continues with ferocity, thank you.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fso301

they had buses in 1902?


13 posted on 08/13/2007 10:04:07 AM PDT by old gringo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: old gringo
they had buses in 1902?

Streetcars.

14 posted on 08/13/2007 10:22:47 AM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Borges

RIP.


15 posted on 08/13/2007 2:46:29 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~~~Jihad Fever -- Catch It !~~~ (Backup tag: "Live Fred or Die"))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson