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Exhibition Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words

Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words

<em>Browder v. Gayle</em>, Class Action Lawsuit

W. C. Patton, NAACP Alabama Field Secretary, to NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins and Director of Branches Gloster B. Current concerning the Montgomery Bus Situation, December 19, 1955. Memorandum. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (087.00.00)
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W. C. Patton, NAACP Alabama Field Secretary, to NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins and Director of Branches Gloster B. Current concerning the Montgomery Bus Situation, December 19, 1955. Memorandum. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (087.00.01)
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Police Report, December 1, 1955, page 1 and 2; Illustration of bus where Rosa Parks sat; and Fingerprint Card of Rosa Parks; Facsimiles. Civil Case 1147 Browder, et al v. Gayle, et. al; U.S. District Court for Middle District of Alabama, Northern (Montgomery) Division Group 21, Records of the District Court of the United States National Archives and Records Administration-Southeast Region, East Point, Georgia, Courtesy of the National Archives (088.00.00)
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Police Report, December 1, 1955, page 1 and 2; Illustration of bus where Rosa Parks sat; and Fingerprint Card of Rosa Parks; Facsimiles. Civil Case 1147 Browder, et al v. Gayle, et. al; U.S. District Court for Middle District of Alabama, Northern (Montgomery) Division Group 21, Records of the District Court of the United States National Archives and Records Administration-Southeast Region, East Point, Georgia, Courtesy of the National Archives (088.00.01)
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Police Report, December 1, 1955, page 1 and 2; Illustration of bus where Rosa Parks sat; and Fingerprint Card of Rosa Parks; Facsimiles. Civil Case 1147 Browder, et al v. Gayle, et. al; U.S. District Court for Middle District of Alabama, Northern (Montgomery) Division Group 21, Records of the District Court of the United States National Archives and Records Administration-Southeast Region, East Point, Georgia, Courtesy of the National Archives (089.00.00)
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Police Report, December 1, 1955, page 1 and 2; Illustration of bus where Rosa Parks sat; and Fingerprint Card of Rosa Parks; Facsimiles. Civil Case 1147 Browder, et al v. Gayle, et. al; U.S. District Court for Middle District of Alabama, Northern (Montgomery) Division Group 21, Records of the District Court of the United States National Archives and Records Administration-Southeast Region, East Point, Georgia, Courtesy of the National Archives (090.00.00)
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Browder v. Gayle, Class Action Lawsuit

On December 13, 1955, NAACP state field secretary W. C. Patton met with Montgomery branch president Robert L. Matthews, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Fred Gray to discuss the bus boycott. Rosa authorized the NAACP to process her case. Gray, the Montgomery Improvement Association’s chief counsel, agreed to represent her, with Thurgood Marshall, Robert L. Carter, and Clifford Durr advising. On February 1, 1956, Gray filed a federal lawsuit, Browder v. Gayle, on behalf of five female plaintiffs: Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Jeanetta Reese, Claudette Colvin, and Mary Louise Smith. He omitted Rosa due to a technicality.