October 24

Marie Foster, Rosa Parks, and Paul Bogle.

Author

David Barnhart
October 24, 2025

Bolivia, 2009.

Today is the birthday, in 1917, of “Mother Foster” (Marie Foster), who has been called “The Mother of the Voting Rights Movement.” One of the many obstacles placed before Black voters were literacy tests. She took the test eight times in Selma, Alabama, before passing it, and then began to teach others. She invited Dr. Martin Luther King to Selma and organized the marches to Montgomery.  

Today also marks the death, in 2004, of Rosa Parks, civil rights leader and another “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” She was an organizer and civil rights leader for years before her famous arrest. Although Claudette Colvin was arrested earlier in the year for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger, it was Rosa Parks’ refusal and arrest that provided the impetus for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 

Today also marks the martyrdom of Jamaican Baptist deacon Paul Bogle, and his brother Moses Bogle, in 1865. They led an uprising in Jamaica that was peaceful, at first, until the white supremacist colonial Governor, John Eyre declared martial law and began killing protesters. Eyre was recalled and replaced as a result of his brutality, but Jamaica would not achieve independence for another century. 

Reflection:

Rosa Parks wrote: 

“People always said that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

and

“From my upbringing and the Bible I learned people should stand up for rights just as the children of Israel stood up to the Pharaoh.” 

Prayer: Great Spirit of Liberation, we are tired of giving in to bullies who oppress your people and harm the planet. Let our tiredness turn into resolve. Amen.