Preschool students ride JTA bus to honor civil rights activist

JACKSON, Tenn. — Preschool students rode a Jackson Transit Authority bus on Thursday to honor civil rights activist Rosa Parks on her birthday.

Students sang spiritual songs and held signs as they waited to board the bus. “We will be riding in the back on the way there, and then we will ride in the front on the way back,” Jillian’s Fun Palace Director/Owner Vitini Robinson said. Students rode the bus to and from McDonald’s.

Robinson makes her students ride the bus every year on Rosa Parks’ birthday. The civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., transit bus would have turned 103 years old Thursday.

“Black history has always been a passion of mine, and me being their preschool teacher, I just feel it’s my obligation to teach them their history,” Robinson said.

Zakaria Jordan, 4, knows Parks’ story. “She didn’t give the white man her seat,” Jordan said.

Robinson hopes the late civil rights activist inspires her students. “Let them know that where they come from has a big bearing on where they’re going,” she said.