Beyond and behind the ‘quiet bus lady’

Inspired by Jeanne Theoharis’s biography of Rosa Parks, Ed Durbin initially planned to challenge the ‘fable’ that had been constructed around her life. He soon realised, however, that he wanted to take the opportunity to get ‘behind’ the fable and help his students understand how and why it had been constructed. Drawing on ideas about ‘popular memory’, he therefore designed an enquiry that explored three intertwining stories: the life and legacy of Rosa Parks, the ways she has been represented and how the ‘fable’ about her has been constructed...