The Loss of Rosa Parks

Last week, the day after Rosa Parks passed away, there was an event at my childrens' school. Each of my gnomes was to deliver a speech in front of the class, and I was waiting for this to begin in my son's homeroom while The Beloved Wife waited in our daughter's class.

My son's teacher, as parents were still funnelling in and finding seats, asked "Can any of my 4th Graders tell me who Rosa Parks was?"

My son, all 9 years of him, hopped up and raised his hand.

"Rosa Parks was a black lady who refused to move to another seat on a bus in Birmingham, Alabama, back in 1955. She was supposed to move to the back and she wouldn't. She got arrested. Dr. Martin Luther King was on her side, and told people about what she did, and it was the start of the civil rights movement."

The entire room was shocked into silence, as was I. Had he and I ever talked about Rosa Parks? I know we did briefly after a trip I made to Memphis three years ago...but where did he get all this? Especially the city, and the year?

Later, I remembered that he and his class did a unit on the Civil Rights movement at his old school, back in the second grade.

I didn't realize the kid had this kind of retention in him. Amazing...