In a time when words are meaningless and action meaningful, seldom do people engage in certain ways some would call dangerous. It is in the same line of thought that two women of different backgrounds rose up to fight injustice. It’s about Rosa Parks, an African American woman and Aline Sitoe Diatta, a West African woman. Comparing these two emblematic figures of resistance is the objective of the essay. It will be good to first evoke the context of their pacific resistance. Then explain their contributions to the societies they belonged to and finally comment on their different and similar characters.

          In the United States, the Deep South was deeply segregated in every aspect of life. Blacks had not only suffered from slavery but they also endured hardships even decades after the Emancipation Proclamation. Even though the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) often took action, exactions were rampant everywhere. They had no voice and the American government did not care about racial issues. But on December 1st, 1955, a turning point changed history, when an African American woman, Rosa Parks also known as “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

          However one decade earlier, in a country situated thousands miles away from America, was resisting another woman, Aline Sitoe Diatta. She was also known as the “Lady of Kabrousse,” her birthplace. The event happened in Casamance, a very rich area in the sub-region of Senegal, when the local peasants were restlessly oppressed by French colonizers. The movements of revolt which occurred between the colonized and the colonizers were the results of Diatta’s protest actions. She led her people to civil disobedience in order to face the oppressors.
Women of Strength

          Next to that brief history of the two women, it will be very interesting to focus on their points of resemblance. First of all, they both belonged to modest families and had low-paying jobs. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Parks worked as a seamstress and Aline Sitoe Diatta as a docker in Ziguinchor before traveling to Dakar. They also stood up for the rights of their peoples through nonviolence, a method of fight that requires patience, determination and courage. The two heroines’ actions and dignities prevailed over injustice and raised public awareness among their communities until satisfaction was gained. However, some differences need to be mentioned.

          Although the two women fought against race prejudice and stood up for social change, the situations of their communities were rigidly opposed. Discrimination and segregation were principally the motives of Parks’s fight whereas colonization and exploitation was what Diatta had to face. Furthermore, the latter was deported to Tombouctou and imprisoned till she prematurely died at 24. Therefore, she never had the chance to keep fighting. Parks was luckier because she had lived many decades testifying to the fruits of her fight before her death in 2005. Today, each of these two women represents the cornerstone of her own nation and is considered as a heroine. What they accomplished went down in history as some of the precious goods mankind ever had.

References
1. “Aline Sitoe Diatta.” Wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aline_Sitoe_Diatta
2. “Rosa Parks.” Wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

See Also

• Death of Nelson Mandela
• Famous Americans
• Islam and civil rights
• Peoples Movement Assembly
• Vimla patil