Rosa Parks Droplet Necklace
- Freshwater Pearl
- Cubic Zirconia
- Topaz
- Swarovski Crystal
- Moonstone
- Citrine
- 14k Gold Filled Chain, Clasp, & Findings
Length ⇢ 16 inches + 3 inch Extender
Find out the history, lore, & healing powers of each gemstone in the information sections at the bottom of the page.
We offer a brief version of this information in an elegant card format. You can find these cards in the Crystal Card blog post, where you can download & print it for yourself or add it to a gift! Click on the specific gemstone card & you will see a download icon. You can print the card out yourself, or let us know you are gifting these earrings through the "Add A Note" section at purchase.
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Every necklace is made with natural pearls and gemstones of the same general color & size, however, the shape of the pearl or gemstone may vary slightly.
This necklace is perfect for those who have sensitive skin. The chain, findings, & beads are hypoallergenic & with proper care, will not tarnish, turn, or stain your skin!
For more information on 14k gold filled metals & how to care for this type of jewelry, check out our information sections below.
Rosa Parks is best known for initiating the civil rights movement in the US when she refused to give her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. This event led to the organization of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Martin Luther King, Jr. The boycott lasted over one year, ending only when the US Supreme Court deemed bus segregation as unconstitutional. Parks became a nationally recognized symbol of dignity & strength during the struggle to end racial segregation.
Rosa Parks' refusal to surrender her seat may have been the most famous event of that kind, but it wasn't the first. Claudette Colvin was only 15 years old when she refused to relinquish her seat to a white passenger. In another instance, Aurelia Browder, Mary Louise Smith, & Susie McDonald failed to abide by the bus segregation law prior to Rosa Parks. All four of these women were plaintiffs in the Browder vs. Gayle court case that resulted in the Supreme Court ruling bus segregation unconstitutional.
The day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat made her a famous civil rights activist, however, she was an activist before then. Rosa Parks was a member of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also known as the NAACP. In fact, at the time of her arrest she was the secretary of the local NAACP chapter & had attended a workshop for social & equal justice previously. She worked closely with chapter president Edgar Daniel Nixon, a railroad porter known in the city as an advocate for African Americans who demanded voter registration. Although she knew the NAACP was looking for a member to test the constitutionality of the Jim Crow law, she had not considered her self to be that person. "If I had been paying attention I wouldn't have even gotten on that bus," Rosa Parks wrote in her autobiography. Though she had previous experience in civil rights activism, she had not planned any part of what was to come.
On Thursday, December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks boarded the bus on her way home from work. To avoid being subjected to the demeaning segregation laws, African American residents tried to steer clear of municipal busses. However, over 70% of the people that rode the bus everyday during this time were African American. She hadn't realized it, but the driver of the bus she had just boarded was James Blake. Blake had thrown Rosa out of a bus in 1943 after she had attempted to re-enter the vehicle through the back door after she paid her fare at the front. After that experience she promised herself she would never get on a bus Blake was driving again. Unfortunately, this day she wasn't paying attention. Once the "Whites Only" section of the bus had filled up, the beginning rows of the African American section were supposed to be reserved for white people. When Rosa & 3 other people were asked to get up so a white person could sit down, the other 3 people got up & moved while Rosa Parks remained seated. Rumor had it that Rosa didn't get up because she was tired after a long day at work, but she refuted this statement in her autobiography, revealing she wasn't tired from working, but tired of giving in.
When Rosa wouldn't get up she was arrested. She used her one phone call in jail to contact her husband. At this point word had spread of her arrest & E. D. Nixon was there when Rosa was released on bail later that night. Nixon was elated that Rosa, a courageous Black person of unquestioned honesty & integrity was the plaintiff in a case that would become the test of the validity of segregation laws -- she was exactly who the NAACP was looking to enlist. While they discussed her position, the idea of the bus boycott came to mind. On the day of Rosa's trial, no one would ride the bus. 35,000 flyers were sent home with Black school children informing their parents of the boycott.
Rosa was found guilty of violating segregation laws, given a suspended sentence, & fined $10 + $4 for court fees. Meanwhile, participation in the boycott was far greater than anyone ever expected! Nixon & some ministers formed the Montgomery improvement Association (MIA), appointing Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as the MIA president.
As appeals & lawsuits made their way through the US Supreme Court, the Montgomery Bus Boycott had outraged most of Montgomery's white population, who responded with violence. The brutality didn't deter the boycott leaders. It did, however, draw attention to the movement, eventually gaining national & international press.
On November 13, 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that bus integration was unconstitutional & the boycott ended December 20, one day after the Court's written order arrived in Montgomery.
Rosa, who had lost her job & endured vicious harassment throughout the past year was now considered "the mother of the civil rights movement."
As she continued to face harassment & threats, the Parks family decided to move to Detroit, where Rosa's brother lived. In 1965, Rosa became an administrative aide in the Detroit office of Congressman John Conyers, Jr. where she remained until her retirement in 1988. In 1987, she co-founded the Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, to serve Detroit's Youth.