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Exhibition Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words

Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words

“The Troubles of the Boycott Heroine”

NAACP Director of Branches Gloster Current to Lasker Smith, president of NAACP River Rouge-Ecorse Branch, November 16, 1960. Typed letter. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (042.01.00)
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NAACP Director of Branches Gloster Current to Lasker Smith, president of NAACP River Rouge-Ecorse Branch, November 16, 1960. Typed letter. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (042.01.01)
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“The Troubles of the Boycott Heroine”

In July 1960 Jet magazine reported on “the troubles of the boycott heroine.” Rosa Parks was ill, in debt, and unable to afford health care. Lasker Smith, president of the NAACP River Rouge-Ecorse, Michigan branch, appealed to the NAACP national office for help. The NAACP River Rouge-Ecorse branch, largely composed of UAW Local 600 members, had supported Rosa during the bus boycott.