Under the circumstances of the time, I really doubt that *all* she wanted was to sit down. That may have been the driver, but this was an act that defied existing law. There were likely other such acts, but this one took spark.
OTOH, I could be persuaded: Can you back up your surmise that all she wanted was to sit down and nothing more? Given the high profile of the situation there must be countervailing documentation.
Well, actually, the truth behind Rosa Parks was that her act was NOT a spontaneous one, as the carefully constructed mythology would have it.
She was in fact a trained activist.
“Can you back up your surmise that all she wanted was to sit down and nothing more?”
I don’t know, she could have been a trained activist. I’m simply judging from the way the story is told in the history books. They say she didn’t set out to start a boycott. It’s true that she defied the law, and therefore it was technically involved in civil disobediance. But the way the story’s told, she was disobedient in order to sit down, not to take on “the system”.
Myu understanding was the professional activists took it from there. Now, if she was previosly part of the movement, and her defiance had been orchestrated, that would be another matter. I’m no expert. All I’m saying is, even according to the liberal myth, she wasn’t the one taking on the system. She only took on one bus driver.