Mary Louise Smith
Encyclopedia
Mary Louise Smith (born 1937) is a civil rights
protester. She is famous as one of the pre-Rosa Parks
women who refused to give up their seat in the "whites only" section of Montgomery, Alabama
city buses. She was 18 years old when she was arrest
ed.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Smith has lived there since her birth. She is the third of six children, four boys and two girls. Her parents, both deceased, were Frank and Alberta Smith. Her mother died at the age of 42, when Mary was 15, leaving Janie, the oldest sister, to become the surrogate mother of the family. Her father never remarried and worked two jobs to take care of his young family.
Mary and all her siblings attended and graduated from St. Jude Educational Institute. A devout Catholic, she is still a member of St.Jude Church where she was baptized.
At the age of 18, October 21, 1955, Smith returning home on the Montgomery, Alabama city line bus, was ordered to relinquish her seat to a white female passenger, which she refused to do. Her stand landed her in jail and she was charged with failure to obey segregation orders, some 40 days before the arrest of Rosa Parks
on similar charges. Her father bailed her out of jail and paid her fine, nine dollars. The incident was unknown except to family and neighbors.
Her arrest was made known later at a mass meeting by a cousin. Attorney Fred Gray asked Smith and her father to become plaintiffs in a civil rights class action law suit to end segregated seating on city buses. Her father agreed, for he wanted justice for her unlawful arrest.
Smith did not learn until 1995, from a news reporter, that she had been discussed as being a test case by black leaders. They could not find anything negative about Mary but she was not chosen because it was said her father was an alcoholic. This untrue allegation bothers her more than the exclusion and ignoring of her contributions by Montgomery and national black leaders for over 50 years.
When Rosa Parks died in October 2005, Smith, then 68, attended the memorial service for Parks in Montgomery, where she still lives. "I had to pay my tribute to her," Ware said. "She was our role model."
Smith continued to work for civil rights beyond the boycott and trial. She worked on voting rights campaigns and attended the March on Washington in 1963. Her sister Annie's son was a plaintiff in the lawsuit to desegregate the Y.M.C.A.
Today, Smith is active with her 12 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Now divorced, Smith raised four children. Her most enjoyable hobby is reading and she is active in several of her church auxiliaries and senior citizen clubs.
Former United States poet laureate Rita Dove
mentions Mary Louise Smith in her poem "The Enactment", in her poetry book "On the Bus with Rosa Parks" (W.W. Norton, 1999), and she also referred to her in her magazine article "The Torchbearer Rosa Parks".
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
protester. She is famous as one of the pre-Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
women who refused to give up their seat in the "whites only" section of Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
city buses. She was 18 years old when she was arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Smith has lived there since her birth. She is the third of six children, four boys and two girls. Her parents, both deceased, were Frank and Alberta Smith. Her mother died at the age of 42, when Mary was 15, leaving Janie, the oldest sister, to become the surrogate mother of the family. Her father never remarried and worked two jobs to take care of his young family.
Mary and all her siblings attended and graduated from St. Jude Educational Institute. A devout Catholic, she is still a member of St.Jude Church where she was baptized.
At the age of 18, October 21, 1955, Smith returning home on the Montgomery, Alabama city line bus, was ordered to relinquish her seat to a white female passenger, which she refused to do. Her stand landed her in jail and she was charged with failure to obey segregation orders, some 40 days before the arrest of Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
on similar charges. Her father bailed her out of jail and paid her fine, nine dollars. The incident was unknown except to family and neighbors.
Her arrest was made known later at a mass meeting by a cousin. Attorney Fred Gray asked Smith and her father to become plaintiffs in a civil rights class action law suit to end segregated seating on city buses. Her father agreed, for he wanted justice for her unlawful arrest.
Smith did not learn until 1995, from a news reporter, that she had been discussed as being a test case by black leaders. They could not find anything negative about Mary but she was not chosen because it was said her father was an alcoholic. This untrue allegation bothers her more than the exclusion and ignoring of her contributions by Montgomery and national black leaders for over 50 years.
When Rosa Parks died in October 2005, Smith, then 68, attended the memorial service for Parks in Montgomery, where she still lives. "I had to pay my tribute to her," Ware said. "She was our role model."
Smith continued to work for civil rights beyond the boycott and trial. She worked on voting rights campaigns and attended the March on Washington in 1963. Her sister Annie's son was a plaintiff in the lawsuit to desegregate the Y.M.C.A.
Today, Smith is active with her 12 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Now divorced, Smith raised four children. Her most enjoyable hobby is reading and she is active in several of her church auxiliaries and senior citizen clubs.
Former United States poet laureate Rita Dove
Rita Dove
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate"...
mentions Mary Louise Smith in her poem "The Enactment", in her poetry book "On the Bus with Rosa Parks" (W.W. Norton, 1999), and she also referred to her in her magazine article "The Torchbearer Rosa Parks".
See also
- Claudette ColvinClaudette ColvinClaudette Colvin is a pioneer of the African-American civil rights movement. She was the first person to resist bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, preceding the better known Rosa Parks incident by nine months. The court case stemming from her refusal to give up her seat on the bus, decided by...
- Montgomery Bus BoycottMontgomery Bus BoycottThe Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many important figures in the civil rights movement were involved in the boycott,...
- Irene MorganIrene MorganIrene Morgan , later known as Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, was an important predecessor to Rosa Parks in the successful fight to overturn segregation laws in the United States...
- Rosa ParksRosa ParksRosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....