"Opening Eyes" Rosa Parks at Maxwell Field

"Opening Eyes" Rosa Parks at Maxwell Field. Montgomery County. , In 1941, Rosa Parks was employed at the Maxwell Field Guest House (Building 439). Her husband, Raymond Parks, worked at the Maxwell Barber Shop. At Maxwell Field, the cafeteria, post exchange, swimming pool, and base trolley system were integrated. Off Maxwell Field, Montgomery's City Code required segregation of public spaces and public transportation. After working on Maxwell Field, Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing a city bus driver's instructions to give up her seat. Her arrest, conviction, and fine launched the 382-Day Montgomery Bus Boycott on December 5, 1955, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement that culminated with the November 13, 1956 United States Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional. , On February 21, 1956, Maxwell Field Airmen Master Sergeant Booker T. Holmes, Staff Sergeant Alfred Ellis, and Airman First Class Otis A. Carlton were indicted with Rosa Parks for enabling the bus boycott. Raymond Parks resigned from the Maxwell Field Barber Shop when the concession owner issued an order prohibiting discussion of the bus boycott or Rosa Parks, refusing to work where his wife's name could not be mentioned. The bus boycott officially ended on December 20, 1956. In 1995, Rosa Parks, hailed the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement," returned to Montgomery to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She stayed overnight on Maxwell Air Force Base and met with students at the Ira C. Eaker College of Professional Development. Upon returning to Montgomery for the 45th Anniversary in 2000, she again stayed on base in the Maxwell Suite. Reflecting on her Maxwell Field employment in the 1940's, Rosa Parks recalled "You might just say Maxwell opened my eyes up. It was an alternative reality to the ugly policies of Jim Crow."